29. When Caesar Was Held Hostage by Pirates
In 75 BC, a not-yet-famous Julius Caesar was the scion of an ancient but not particularly powerful patrician family. His gens, the Julii, had roots that stretched back to before Rome had even been founded. That year, sailed across the Aegean Sea to the island of Rhodes to study oratory – a common practice for ambitious young Romans who sought a career in politics. His journey was interrupted when a band of pirates from Cilicia – a region of southern Asia Minor notorious at the time for piracy – captured his ship and held him for ransom. That was unfortunate for Caesar, whose voyage and the start of his oratorical studies was delayed. It was even more unfortunate for the pirates, whom Caesar was about to seek vengeance upon in a horrific way.
From the start, the young Caesar was different than any captive the pirates had ever encountered before. Rather than quake in fear, he became familiar with them. Not familiar enough, though, to abandon the air of superiority that was part and parcel of Roman aristocrats. When the pirates told him that they wanted a ransom of twenty silver talents – roughly 1400 pounds of silver, he scoffed at their ignorance. Instead, he suggested that fifty talents – about 3500 pounds of silver – was more appropriate for a nobleman of his pedigree. Caesar was the first hostage they had ever encountered who negotiated for a higher ransom. As seen below, he continued to amaze them with his sublime confidence as they awaited the ransom.