Jewish pirates
Encyclopedia
Ancient Jewish life was concentrated around Jerusalem, located some distance from the sea. Therefore, Jews were initially not very interested in seafaring or navigation. After 142 BCE, Jews got ports of their own. Joppa (Jaffa
), Ashdod and Gaza
were added to Hasmonean
dominions, and a small number of Jewish sailors was created. After that, historic references provide some evidences of Jews fighting as pirates.
Jewish pirates were first mentioned by Josephus
. There is a drawing of a pirate ship following two merchant ships at Jason's tomb
. The drawing shows three ships, one of which is a war ship with Jason holding the bow and getting ready to shoot. The painting is dated back at early 1st century BCE.
Seleucid Empire
decay was a result of the Maccabean war
, and was followed by an influx of Jewish and Arab pirates operating from Levant
. Pompey
's journey to Judea
may indicate a connection between Jewish and Cilician pirates
. As a matter of fact there were so many Jews at the sea, some of which were pirates, during Pompey's time that king Antigonus II Mattathias was accused in sending them out in purpose.
The English State Papers of 1521 bear evidences of daring Jewish pirates:
Jews were experienced cartographers
. Some great explorers such as Columbus and Vasco Da Gama
are believed to have used those cartographic skills. Jews also worked as the ship navigators. The history of the Jewish people, the wars, the Diaspora
, the Inquisition
s, as well as knowledge and skills in ship navigation, were all contributing factors to the development of Jewish piracy.
(Jaffa), which had been destroyed earlier by Cestius Gallus
. Surrounded and cut off by the Romans they rebuilt the city walls, and used a light flotilla to demoralize commerce and interrupt the grain supply to Rome
from Alexandria
.
In his The Jewish War Josephus wrote:
In July 67 Vespasian
attacked Joppa. The people of Joppa took to the sea, but a pre-dawn storm wrecked the ships. Many drowned, others killed themselves. Those who survived the wreck, numbering about 4,200, were killed by Romans. Joppa was destroyed once again.
After Joppa's destruction for the second time Vespasian built a citadel there to prevent the Jewish pirates from taking the city over for the third time.
The Romans considered their victory over Joppa's pirates very important, and commemorated it with the large number of coins for "naval victory".
, many of them settled in the friendlier Muslim lands of the Mediterranean (the Ottoman Empire
for example). Like their Muslim
compatriots who were likewise expelled in 1492, Jews were also looking to revenge Inquisition brutality by sharing with Muslims the newest military technique and secrets used by Christian
s. And they also joined in on the Muslim Anti-Christian Piracy of the Mediterranean
.
Christopher Columbus
himself noticed a great symbolism in expulsion Jews from Spain and sea voyages of discovery, when he started his diary with this statement:
. However, at some point 20% of Kingston
's population were Jews of Portuguese-Spanish ancestry
. The first Jews landed on the island in 1530 just 40 years after it was discovered by Christopher Columbus
.
In 2008 an old Jewish cemetery was discovered outside Kingston. Some tomb stones have not only Hebrew
writing, but are also marked with the skull and crossbones—pirate symbols.
Jewish pirates of Jamaica named their ships for ancient Jewish heroes and prophets like Prophet Samuel, Queen Esther
and Shield of Abraham
. They targeted Spanish and Portuguese merchant ships. One of the most famous Jewish pirates of Jamaica was Moses Cohen Henriques
, who lead a 1628 raid, considered the largest ever to be committed against the Spanish fleet.
. He was the second in command of a pirate ship under Hayreddin Barbarossa, but later became the captain himself. Although Barbarossa was feared by Christian countries, he was not a naval commander himself. Sinan, whom the Turks
called Kaptan Pasha (Lord Captain), was his favorite captain and the one who actually battled the enemies. Sinan's pirate flag (like many of the contemporary Ottoman naval flags) displayed a six-pointed star, called the Seal of Süleyman (Solomon)
by the Ottomans. His legacy includes capturing Tunis
from Spain in 1534, destruction of most Spain's fleet in 1538 and capturing Tripoli
in 1551. Six thousand men were under his command. The Ottomans appointed him to be a naval commander. He is buried in a Jewish cemetery in Albania
.
s themselves. For many years after that his only goal was revenge. He had three pirate ships under his command. Little is known about what happened to him later. Some believe that eventually he made his way to the Holy Land, studied Kabbalah
and died peacefully of old age.
Jaffa
Jaffa is an ancient port city believed to be one of the oldest in the world. Jaffa was incorporated with Tel Aviv creating the city of Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel. Jaffa is famous for its association with the biblical story of the prophet Jonah.-Etymology:...
), Ashdod and Gaza
Gaza
Gaza , also referred to as Gaza City, is a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, with a population of about 450,000, making it the largest city in the Palestinian territories.Inhabited since at least the 15th century BC,...
were added to Hasmonean
Hasmonean
The Hasmonean dynasty , was the ruling dynasty of Judea and surrounding regions during classical antiquity. Between c. 140 and c. 116 BCE, the dynasty ruled semi-autonomously from the Seleucids in the region of Judea...
dominions, and a small number of Jewish sailors was created. After that, historic references provide some evidences of Jews fighting as pirates.
Jewish pirates were first mentioned by Josephus
Josephus
Titus Flavius Josephus , also called Joseph ben Matityahu , was a 1st-century Romano-Jewish historian and hagiographer of priestly and royal ancestry who recorded Jewish history, with special emphasis on the 1st century AD and the First Jewish–Roman War, which resulted in the Destruction of...
. There is a drawing of a pirate ship following two merchant ships at Jason's tomb
Jason (high priest)
Jason of the Oniad family, brother to Onias III, was a High Priest in the Temple in Jerusalem.Jason became high priest in 175 BCE after the accession of Antiochus Epiphanes to the throne of the Seleucid Empire....
. The drawing shows three ships, one of which is a war ship with Jason holding the bow and getting ready to shoot. The painting is dated back at early 1st century BCE.
Seleucid Empire
Seleucid Empire
The Seleucid Empire was a Greek-Macedonian state that was created out of the eastern conquests of Alexander the Great. At the height of its power, it included central Anatolia, the Levant, Mesopotamia, Persia, today's Turkmenistan, Pamir and parts of Pakistan.The Seleucid Empire was a major centre...
decay was a result of the Maccabean war
Maccabees
The Maccabees were a Jewish rebel army who took control of Judea, which had been a client state of the Seleucid Empire. They founded the Hasmonean dynasty, which ruled from 164 BCE to 63 BCE, reasserting the Jewish religion, expanding the boundaries of the Land of Israel and reducing the influence...
, and was followed by an influx of Jewish and Arab pirates operating from Levant
Levant
The Levant or ) is the geographic region and culture zone of the "eastern Mediterranean littoral between Anatolia and Egypt" . The Levant includes most of modern Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian territories, and sometimes parts of Turkey and Iraq, and corresponds roughly to the...
. Pompey
Pompey
Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, also known as Pompey or Pompey the Great , was a military and political leader of the late Roman Republic...
's journey to Judea
Judea
Judea or Judæa was the name of the mountainous southern part of the historic Land of Israel from the 8th century BCE to the 2nd century CE, when Roman Judea was renamed Syria Palaestina following the Jewish Bar Kokhba revolt.-Etymology:The...
may indicate a connection between Jewish and Cilician pirates
Cilician pirates
The Cilician pirates dominated the Mediterranean Sea from the 2nd century BC up until their speedy suppression by Pompey . Although there were notorious pirate strongholds in Cilicia, Cilician had long been a term for pirates.-Rise of piracy:...
. As a matter of fact there were so many Jews at the sea, some of which were pirates, during Pompey's time that king Antigonus II Mattathias was accused in sending them out in purpose.
The English State Papers of 1521 bear evidences of daring Jewish pirates:
Jews were experienced cartographers
Majorcan cartographic school
The Majorcan cartographic school is the term coined by historians to refer to the collection of cartographers, cosmographers and navigational instrument-makers that flourished in Majorca in the 14th and 15th Centuries. The label is usually inclusive of those who worked in mainland Catalonia...
. Some great explorers such as Columbus and Vasco Da Gama
Vasco da Gama
Vasco da Gama, 1st Count of Vidigueira was a Portuguese explorer, one of the most successful in the Age of Discovery and the commander of the first ships to sail directly from Europe to India...
are believed to have used those cartographic skills. Jews also worked as the ship navigators. The history of the Jewish people, the wars, the Diaspora
Jewish diaspora
The Jewish diaspora is the English term used to describe the Galut גלות , or 'exile', of the Jews from the region of the Kingdom of Judah and Roman Iudaea and later emigration from wider Eretz Israel....
, the Inquisition
Inquisition
The Inquisition, Inquisitio Haereticae Pravitatis , was the "fight against heretics" by several institutions within the justice-system of the Roman Catholic Church. It started in the 12th century, with the introduction of torture in the persecution of heresy...
s, as well as knowledge and skills in ship navigation, were all contributing factors to the development of Jewish piracy.
Piracy in the Ancient World: Pirates of Joppa
By the end of First Jewish–Roman War, also known as The Great Revolt, Jews who had been driven out of Galilee rebuilt JoppaJaffa
Jaffa is an ancient port city believed to be one of the oldest in the world. Jaffa was incorporated with Tel Aviv creating the city of Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel. Jaffa is famous for its association with the biblical story of the prophet Jonah.-Etymology:...
(Jaffa), which had been destroyed earlier by Cestius Gallus
Cestius Gallus
Gaius Cestius Gallus was the son of a consul in ancient Rome and himself a suffect consul in 42.He was legate of Syria from 63 or 65. He marched into Judea in 66 in an attempt to restore calm at the outset of the Great Jewish Revolt...
. Surrounded and cut off by the Romans they rebuilt the city walls, and used a light flotilla to demoralize commerce and interrupt the grain supply to Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
from Alexandria
Alexandria
Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...
.
In his The Jewish War Josephus wrote:
In July 67 Vespasian
Vespasian
Vespasian , was Roman Emperor from 69 AD to 79 AD. Vespasian was the founder of the Flavian dynasty, which ruled the Empire for a quarter century. Vespasian was descended from a family of equestrians, who rose into the senatorial rank under the Emperors of the Julio-Claudian dynasty...
attacked Joppa. The people of Joppa took to the sea, but a pre-dawn storm wrecked the ships. Many drowned, others killed themselves. Those who survived the wreck, numbering about 4,200, were killed by Romans. Joppa was destroyed once again.
After Joppa's destruction for the second time Vespasian built a citadel there to prevent the Jewish pirates from taking the city over for the third time.
The Romans considered their victory over Joppa's pirates very important, and commemorated it with the large number of coins for "naval victory".
Spanish Jewish pirates
After Jews were expelled from Spain and PortugalAlhambra decree
The Alhambra Decree was an edict issued on 31 March 1492 by the joint Catholic Monarchs of Spain ordering the expulsion of Jews from the Kingdom of Spain and its territories and possessions by 31 July of that year.The edict was formally revoked on 16 December 1968, following the Second...
, many of them settled in the friendlier Muslim lands of the Mediterranean (the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
for example). Like their Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
compatriots who were likewise expelled in 1492, Jews were also looking to revenge Inquisition brutality by sharing with Muslims the newest military technique and secrets used by Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
s. And they also joined in on the Muslim Anti-Christian Piracy of the Mediterranean
Barbary corsairs
The Barbary Corsairs, sometimes called Ottoman Corsairs or Barbary Pirates, were pirates and privateers who operated from North Africa, based primarily in the ports of Tunis, Tripoli and Algiers. This area was known in Europe as the Barbary Coast, a term derived from the name of its Berber...
.
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in northwestern Italy. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents in the...
himself noticed a great symbolism in expulsion Jews from Spain and sea voyages of discovery, when he started his diary with this statement:
Jewish pirates of Jamaica
Today there are only around 200 Jews living in JamaicaJamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
. However, at some point 20% of Kingston
Kingston, Jamaica
Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley International Airport to the rest of the island...
's population were Jews of Portuguese-Spanish ancestry
Sephardi Jews
Sephardi Jews is a general term referring to the descendants of the Jews who lived in the Iberian Peninsula before their expulsion in the Spanish Inquisition. It can also refer to those who use a Sephardic style of liturgy or would otherwise define themselves in terms of the Jewish customs and...
. The first Jews landed on the island in 1530 just 40 years after it was discovered by Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in northwestern Italy. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents in the...
.
In 2008 an old Jewish cemetery was discovered outside Kingston. Some tomb stones have not only Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
writing, but are also marked with the skull and crossbones—pirate symbols.
Jewish pirates of Jamaica named their ships for ancient Jewish heroes and prophets like Prophet Samuel, Queen Esther
Esther
Esther , born Hadassah, is the eponymous heroine of the Biblical Book of Esther.According to the Bible, she was a Jewish queen of the Persian king Ahasuerus...
and Shield of Abraham
Star of David
The Star of David, known in Hebrew as the Shield of David or Magen David is a generally recognized symbol of Jewish identity and Judaism.Its shape is that of a hexagram, the compound of two equilateral triangles...
. They targeted Spanish and Portuguese merchant ships. One of the most famous Jewish pirates of Jamaica was Moses Cohen Henriques
Moses Cohen Henriques
Moses Cohen Henriques was a Dutch pirate of Portuguese Sephardic Jewish origin, operating in the Caribbean.Henriques helped Dutch naval officer and folk hero Admiral Piet Pieterszoon Hein, of the Dutch West India Company, capture the Spanish treasure fleet in the battle of the Bay of Matanzas in...
, who lead a 1628 raid, considered the largest ever to be committed against the Spanish fleet.
The Great Jew
Sinan, called The Great Jew by the Spaniards, was one such Jewish refugee. His family emigrated from Spain to the Ottoman EmpireOttoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
. He was the second in command of a pirate ship under Hayreddin Barbarossa, but later became the captain himself. Although Barbarossa was feared by Christian countries, he was not a naval commander himself. Sinan, whom the Turks
Turkish people
Turkish people, also known as the "Turks" , are an ethnic group primarily living in Turkey and in the former lands of the Ottoman Empire where Turkish minorities had been established in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Romania...
called Kaptan Pasha (Lord Captain), was his favorite captain and the one who actually battled the enemies. Sinan's pirate flag (like many of the contemporary Ottoman naval flags) displayed a six-pointed star, called the Seal of Süleyman (Solomon)
Seal of Solomon
In Medieval Jewish, Christian and Islamic legends, the Seal of Solomon was a magical signet ring said to have been possessed by King Solomon, which variously gave him the power to command demons, genies , or to speak with animals.-In legend :...
by the Ottomans. His legacy includes capturing Tunis
Tunis
Tunis is the capital of both the Tunisian Republic and the Tunis Governorate. It is Tunisia's largest city, with a population of 728,453 as of 2004; the greater metropolitan area holds some 2,412,500 inhabitants....
from Spain in 1534, destruction of most Spain's fleet in 1538 and capturing Tripoli
Tripoli
Tripoli is the capital and largest city in Libya. It is also known as Western Tripoli , to distinguish it from Tripoli, Lebanon. It is affectionately called The Mermaid of the Mediterranean , describing its turquoise waters and its whitewashed buildings. Tripoli is a Greek name that means "Three...
in 1551. Six thousand men were under his command. The Ottomans appointed him to be a naval commander. He is buried in a Jewish cemetery in Albania
Albania
Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...
.
Yaakov Koriel
Yaakov Koriel was born to Jewish family that converted to Christianity under pressure from the Inquisition when Yaakov was a child. As a young man, Yaakov Koriel was a captain of the Spanish fleet until he was caught by the Inquisition. He was freed by his sailors, most of whom were marranoMarrano
Marranos were Jews living in the Iberian peninsula who converted to Christianity rather than be expelled but continued to observe rabbinic Judaism in secret...
s themselves. For many years after that his only goal was revenge. He had three pirate ships under his command. Little is known about what happened to him later. Some believe that eventually he made his way to the Holy Land, studied Kabbalah
Kabbalah
Kabbalah/Kabala is a discipline and school of thought concerned with the esoteric aspect of Rabbinic Judaism. It was systematized in 11th-13th century Hachmei Provence and Spain, and again after the Expulsion from Spain, in 16th century Ottoman Palestine...
and died peacefully of old age.