During the 1st century BC the Romans dominated the Mediterranean, largely due to their extraordinary success in trade. However, sailors must have dreaded the pirates who flourished in equal measure during these years until it became the aim of each statesmen and general in turn (including Caesar, Pompey and Augustus) to rid the sea of them. This scholarly yet accessible study focuses on the Mediterranean at a time when it was transformed from a Hellenistic to a Roman powerbase. Rauh identifies Rome's most important trading centres around the coasts, pirates' coves and strongholds and the forts that were built by the Romans to counteract them. Rauh also considers daily life aboard a Roman trading vessel, the stuffs traded, the difficulties of navigating this shallow sea and what ports and harbours a sailor might expect to encounter in his life.
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