Piracy is a practice that can be dated all the way back to ancient times. In the Mediterranean, pirates were not a major threat as long as they could be kept in check, usually by a strong navy. By the late 2 nd century BC, however, piracy became more rampant, more dangerous, and began to destabilize the Mediterranean, especially in its eastern part. The phenomenon continued into the 1 st century BC, before Pompey ended it. One of the most colorful stories about the pirates (known specifically as the Cilician pirates) was the time the kidnapped the future Dictator of the Roman Republic, Julius Caesa