Queen Teuta: The Pirate Monarch

Before Rome ruled the waves, the Adriatic belonged to Queen Teuta of Illyria — a ruler

who turned piracy into power. In the 3rd century BCE, she inherited a

coastal kingdom of warriors and smugglers… and she didn’t just permit piracy.

She weaponized it. Her fleets struck merchants, warships, whole towns — then

disappeared into waters only Illyrians understood. To her people, she was protection.

To Greece and Rome, she was a storm. When Rome demanded she stop, their ambassadors

lectured her about “order.” Teuta answered like a pirate queen: she executed one

envoy, detained the others, and sent her ships to raid Roman vessels even harder.