Cilician pirates dominated the Mediterranean Sea until they were suppressed. When did this suppression occur?

Cilician pirates dominated the Mediterranean Sea from the 2nd century BC until their suppression by Pompey in 67-66 BC. Because there were notorious pirate strongholds in Cilicia, on the southern coast of Asia Minor, the term “Cilician” was long used to generically refer to any pirates in the Mediterranean.

By the 1st century BC, what began as a nuisance became a plague on the Mediterranean commerce. The Cilician pirates roamed across the entire Mediterranean, and began to attack the towns of Italy itself. In fact, even Ostia was plundered.

Many had failed in stopping these pirates, until Pompey was granted extraordinary powers to eliminate the Cilician pirates. Pompey divided the Mediterranean into thirteen districts, to each of which he assigned a fleet and a commander. He then swept through the western Mediterranean with his own powerful fleet, driving the pirates out or into the paths of his other commanders.

By keeping vigilance over all the sea at the same time (and at great cost), there was nowhere to run or hide. Those Cilician pirates that did escape fled to the eastern Mediterranean. Pompey completed this first part of his campaign in 40 days.