26. The Ancient World Pirate Queen that was Tougher than Most
In the third century BC, piracy flourished among the Illyrian tribes that inhabited the coasts of modern Croatia and Albania. Piracy had been suppressed for a time in the Classical period, when the powerful navies of Athens and Rhodes kept the Greek world’s waters relatively safe. Phillip II of Macedon and his son Alexander the Great followed suit, but after Alexander’s death, his successors focused their energies on fighting each other. With no strong naval presence to keep them in check, the Illyrians took full advantage of the many hidden inlets along their coastlines and turned to piracy as a way of life.
That eventually led to conflict with the expanding Roman Republic. Rome became a dominant Mediterranean naval power for the first time after its victory over Carthage in the First Punic War (264 – 241 BC). However, that newly-won dominance was challenged by the Illyrians across the Adriatic Sea from the Italian Peninsula. Most notably the Illyrian Ardiaei tribe and their fearless ruler, Queen Teuta (reigned 231 – 227 BC). She had inherited the kingdom after the death of her husband, King Agron, in 231 BC. She continued her husband’s expansionist policies, pushed her realm’s borders deeper into the Balkans, and encouraged and supported her subjects’ piratical activities.
