Wikipedia's first sentence called it “concentrated around jerusalem”. Today it says “jews who engaged in piracy”. This article was not filed under it. Today it is filed under Jews by occupation.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2010 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2010
Jewish archer on the prow of a pirate ship. (A painting from Jason's tomb ) Ancient Jewish life was concentrated around Jerusalem , located some distance from the sea. Therefore, Jews were initially not very interested in seafaring or navigation. After 142 BCE, Jews got ports of their own. Joppa ( Jaffa ), Ashdod and Gaza were added to Hasmonean dominions, and a small number of Jewish sailors was created. After that, historic references provide some evidences of Jews fighting as pirates. Jewish pirates were first mentioned by Josephus . There is a drawing of a pirate ship following two merchant ships at Jason's tomb . The drawing shows three ships, one of which is a war ship with Jason holding the bow and getting ready to shoot. The painting is dated back at early first century BCE . Seleucid Empire decay was a result of the Maccabean war , and was followed by an influx of Jewish and Arab pirates operating from Levant . Pompey 's journey to Judea may indicate a connection between Jewish and Cilician pirates . As a matter of fact there were so many Jews at the sea, some of which were pirates, during Pompey's time that king Antigonus II Mattathias was accused in sending them out in purpose. The English State Papers of 1521 bear evidences of daring Jewish pirates: As to Coron, it was reported at Rome a few days ago that Andrea Doria was informed that the famous Jewish pirate had prepared a strong fleet to meet the Spanish galleys which are to join Doria's nineteen Jews were experienced cartographers . Some great explorers such as Columbus and Vasco Da Gama are believed to have used those cartographic skills. Jews also worked as the ship navigators. The history of the Jewish people, the wars, the Diaspora , the Inquisitions , as well as knowledge and skills in ship navigation, were all contributing factors to the development of Jewish piracy.1
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 367131443.
The opening as it stood in 2015 16 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Jason, a Jewish archer on the prow of a pirate ship. (A painting from Jason's Tomb ) Jewish pirates were those seafaring Jewish people who engaged in piracy .While there is some mention of the phenomena in antiquity, especially during the Hasmonean period, most Jewish pirates operated in the years following the Spanish and Portuguese expulsion of the Iberian Jews .Upon fleeing Iberia , these Jews turned to attacking the Catholic Empire's shipping as both barbary corsairs from their refuge in the Ottoman dominions, as well as privateers bearing letters of marque from Spanish rivals such as the United Netherlands .Many Jews also were involved in backing Spanish-attacking privateers economically.They viewed this campaign to be a profitable strategy of revenge for their expulsion and the Inquisition 's continued religious persecution in both the Old and New Worlds.Their accomplishments include helping to defeat the Spanish-Imperial fleet at the 1538 Battle of Preveza , leading the only successful capture of the Spanish treasure fleet in 1628, aiding the Dutch capture of part of Brazil from Portugal, and aiding the 1655 British conquest of Jamaica from the Spanish.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 665196122.
The opening as it stood in 2020 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Jason, a Jewish archer on the prow of a pirate ship. (A painting from Jason's Tomb ) Jewish pirates were those seafaring Jewish people who engaged in piracy . While there is some mention of the phenomenon in antiquity, especially during the Hasmonean period, most Jewish pirates were Sephardim who operated in the years following the Alhambra Decree ordering the expulsion of Iberia 's Jews.Upon fleeing Spain and Portugal , some of these Jews became pirates and turned to attacking the Catholic Empire's shipping as both barbary corsairs from their refuge in the Ottoman dominions, as well as privateers bearing letters of marque from Spanish rivals such as the United Netherlands . Many Jews also were involved in backing Spanish-attacking privateers economically. They viewed this campaign to be a profitable strategy of revenge for their expulsion and the Inquisition 's continued religious persecution of their Jewish and converso brethren in both the Old and New Worlds.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 963269837.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
Seafaring Jewish people who engaged in piracy Jasón, a Jewish archer on the prow of a pirate ship. (A painting from Jason's Tomb ) Jewish pirates were seafaring Jewish people who engaged in piracy . While there is some mention of the phenomenon in antiquity, especially during the Hasmonean period ( c. 140–37 BCE), most Jewish pirates were Sephardim who operated in the years following the Alhambra Decree ordering the expulsion of Iberia 's Jews. Upon fleeing Spain and Portugal , some of these Jews became pirates and turned to attacking the Catholic Empire's shipping as both Barbary corsairs from their refuge in the Ottoman dominions, as well as privateers bearing letters of marque from Spanish rivals such as the United Netherlands . Many Jews also were involved in backing Spanish-attacking privateers economically. They viewed this campaign to be a profitable strategy of revenge for their expulsion and the Inquisition 's continued religious persecution of their Jewish and converso brethren in both the Old and New Worlds.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1157346670.
The opening as it stood in 2025 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Seafaring Jewish people who engaged in piracy Jasón, a Jewish archer on the prow of a pirate ship (a painting from Jason's Tomb ) Jewish pirates were Jewish people who engaged in piracy . While there is some mention of the phenomenon in antiquity, especially during the Hasmonean period ( c. 140–37 BCE), most Jewish pirates were Sephardim who operated in the years following the Alhambra Decree of 1492 ordering the expulsion of Iberia 's Jews. Upon fleeing Spain and Portugal , some of these Jews became pirates and turned to attacking the Catholic empires' shipping as both Barbary corsairs from their refuge in the Ottoman dominions, as well as privateers bearing letters of marque from Spanish rivals such as the United Netherlands . Many Jews also gave economic support to privateers that attacked Spanish ships.The pirates stole valuables from Spanish treasure galleons and sold the treasure to Jewish merchants.Those Jewish merchants then sold the treasure and valuables onward for a profit, and used their money to support the pirates raids against the Spanish.They considered it an effective revenge strategy for their expulsion and the Inquisition 's continued religious persecution of their Jewish and converso brethren in both the Old and New Worlds.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1280159650. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “concentrated around jerusalem”. Today it says “jews who engaged in piracy”. This article was not filed under it. Today it is filed under Jews by occupation. Read the current article and compare.
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2010, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
concentrated around jerusalem
Now
jews who engaged in piracy
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.