One genre of gaming that has grown in popularity in recent years, is the pirate game genre. Whether it is games like Sea of Thieves, Assassin’s Creed IV, or the upcoming Skull & Bones, there is a love of games with adventures on the high seas. As such, perhaps it is time to consider a game about Jewish pirates and their adventures.
While the idea of Jewish pirates may seem a little strange at first, the reality is that there is a long history of Jewish pirates dating back thousands of years. The first Jewish pirates were mentioned in the Hasmonean era in depictions of merchant ships being attacked, and it only continued from there. If we are to consider Jewish pirates though, there are two main eras to consider for such a game.
The first major era of Jewish piracy that we could consider for a game would be the one that took place during the revolutions against the Romans, where Jews began turning to piracy as a means of resisting the Romans. This was when Jews, who had been expelled from the Galilee region, built back up the port city of Jaffa and used it as their base for sabotaging Roman commerce. These were not small bands either as Flavius Josephus noted: “They also built themselves a great many piratical ships, and turned pirates upon the seas near to Syria, and Phoenicia, and Egypt, and made those seas unnavigable to all men”. While the city was destroyed by the Romans in the end, the Jewish pirates successfully plagued the Romans for many years.
A video game based on this would be set in said era and follow Jewish pirates in their resistance against the Romans for a number of years. Pirates would have missions to fight Roman occupiers and sabotage their trade ships, defeat corrupt officials, and recover stolen Jewish treasures. You could create your own Jewish pirate and explore the Mediterranean Sea. But your adventures would not be held to just Jaffa but also include incursions to Syria, Phoenicia, Greece, and Rome itself.
The game would need heavy amounts of research as well, to accurately depict areas like Jaffa, Syria, and Egypt, while the weapons would need to be authentic as well. We do know of the types of weapons the Judeans would use from two ways. These are from depictions in artwork and in recent years, the finding ancient swords in Israel, including the oldest known steel sword. In addition, this would be a great way to depict Jewish life in the region around that time, and this all could be used as part of our previously mentioned ideas of teaching Jewish history.
After all, we had previously argued about an action-adventure game being used to show off Jewish legends and history, and Jewish pirates fighting the Romans is a perfect example of that. We would not even need to bring in folklore and legends to make a great game but bringing in those legends and folktales would create an incredibly unique experience. After all, there is a lot of Jewish nautical folklore and tales of sea creatures. However, it would be best to get back to this idea in a little while.
The second main era of Jewish piracy that would be ideal to depict in a game would be the one that began in 1492 and ended along with the fall of the Golden Age of Piracy. If the year 1492 stands out, it should as the expulsion of the Jews from Spain occurred in 1492, which lead to a resurgence in piracy as an act of resistance once more. Many Jews had naval experience and they put this to good use.
Jews who did not leave for Ottoman lands or Poland took up arms as pirates and were present in major conflicts including Barbarossa’s fleet financed by the Ottoman Sultan, and also the raid of 25 Spanish ships filled with gold in the Battle in the Bay of Matanzas. There were many Jewish pirates who attained fame and notoriety in history. Samuel Pallache, also known as the Pirate Rabbi, was known in the Dutch Jewish community as someone who was a benefaction, while Yaakov Kuriel, attained such renown that he commanded more than three pirate ships in the Caribbean are two examples. However, the most famous Jewish Pirates would probably be Sinan the Jew, who was the right-hand man of the aforementioned Barbarossa, and Moses Cohen Henriques, who was part of the aforementioned Battle of the Bay of Matanzas and later aided the pirate, Henry Morgan. The latter was never captured by the Spanish Inquisition, even though they knew of his status as a Jewish pirate.
A game set during the Golden Age of Jewish Piracy would have to pick a specific era as it spanned centuries, but like with the 2nd Temple Era Jewish pirates, this would be a great way to teach about a lesser-known chapter of Jewish history. Rather than just enduring life in exile at this time, Jews were actively resisting and exerting their own liberty against their oppressors. As such, this would be a way to show a different side of Jewish life and history. A game set in this era could have players interact with some of these famous Jewish pirates and re-enact roles in the famous battles. The Jewish pirates could also carry out actions right under the noses of the Inquisition and effectively avenge themselves in various ways. Exploration could also focus on how Jewish life was influenced by these Jewish pirates and how it affected the ways the communities grew.
To go back now to the part about folklore and legends, pirate games and fantastical elements go together very well thanks to works such as Monkey Island, the novel On Stranger Tides, and of course the Pirates of the Caribbean films, which also adapted On Stranger Tides. A game about Jewish pirates would be a great way to adapt some Jewish nautical folklore and Levantine legends. The sea dragon known as the Leviathan would be a great encounter to have in such a game in either era. The creature was known on much of the Levant where it was known in some areas as The Lotan and would be a fantastic boss encounter for a pirate game based in legends.
Other creatures that would make great encounters would be Tannin, which in some legends were enormous sea dwelling crocodiles with a double fishtail. Others would be the Ishiyam, who were mermen-like creatures also called Kulullu in Mesopotamia. In addition, there are also many references to seafaring and legends in Midrash and Talmudic literature, such as the legend of the Sambation river.
I would also like to suggest checking out this twitter thread by A.D. Gordon, which I used as a source for some of this information and as a basis of where to look to research this topic.
