“Searching for Pirates: The Rough Cilicia Archaeological Survey Project”

Dr. Nicholas K. Rauh, professor of Classics at Purdue University, will present “Searching for Pirates: The Rough Cilicia Archaeological Survey Project."  His lecture is sponsored by the Archaeological Institute of America and Augustana.

Few phenomena of the Hellenistic Mediterranean world enjoyed as much notoriety, yet exhibit as little clarity for modern observers, as the Cilician pirates, who flourished in the eastern Mediterranean between 139 and 67 BC.

For more than 70 years, the pirates waged economic war with neighboring Hellenistic realms and most particularly with the forces of the Roman Republic and its far-flung provincial empire.

To assess the material remains of these “pirates,” Dr. Rauh conducted the Rough Cilicia Archaeological Survey Project, a systematic surface survey of some 37 miles of coastal strip of western Rough Cilicia (modern Turkey). He will present the results of 13 seasons of field work as well as the emerging evidence for pirate enclaves in the region.

Professor Rauh received his doctorate in ancient history from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

He has teaching and research interests in Greek and Roman history, and Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean archaeology. He is the director of the Rough Cilicia Regional Survey Project, and is the author of "The Sacred Bonds of Commerce. Religion, Economy, and Trade Society at Hellenistic Roman Delos, 166-87 BC." He also has published papers on Roman economic, social and cultural history.

His talk is supported by the Harry S.B. Johnson Endowment for Classics at Augustana, which was established by the family and friends of Dr. Johnson, a professor of classics at Augustana from 1942-1976.