The Most Famous Kidnappings from Ancient Times to the Middle Ages

You don’t have to be a scholar in Greek mythology to know the story of the abduction of Helen of Troy. Helen, the wife of Sparta’s King Menelaus, was either kidnapped or ran off with the Trojan prince Paris. This ignited the Trojan War that was immortalized by Homer in the “Iliad” and the “Odyssey.”

Helen’s story is a myth, but there are a few widely known abductions in the distant past, some involving famous people, that had a historical impact.

24/7 Tempo has compiled a list of famous kidnappings from the distant past using sources such as the History website, History Collection, encyclopedia.com, World History Encyclopedia, Ancient Origins, and Nobility.org. We tried to focus on those kidnappings that either involved historical figures or were themselves historically significant.

Any discussion about kidnapping has to include pirates. These maritime marauders preyed on conveying goods or important political figures and holding them for ransom. Many times they were privateers in the employ of governments tasked with harassing shipping of rival empires.

They were quite active in the Mediterranean, and one of their victims was a young Julius Caesar. While in captivity, the future general and dictator of Rome laughed off his situation and vowed to kill the pirates once the ransom was paid. He made good on his promise.

In the 12th century, English monarch Richard the Lionheart was abducted near Vienna on his way back from the Crusades by Duke Leopold. It took a year for the English to raise enough money, literally a veritable king’s ransom of 150,000 marks, to free Richard.

A rival tribe kidnapped the wife of a young Genghis Khan and might have changed world history by doing so. In the late 12th century, the young Khan used the episode to resolve disputes between Mongol tribes and united them, putting the Mongols on the road of conquest. Thus began the Mongol Empire, one of the largest in history.

In the Western Hemisphere, treasure-hungry Spanish conquistadors under Francisco Pizarro abducted Atahualpa, last emperor of the Incas, and held him for ransom for what is believed to be gold and silver worth $1.5 billion in today’s money. The ransom was paid, Atahualpa paid with his life. (For a different time and place, here is a list of the most notorious kidnappings in American history.)

Scroll below to see kidnappings from the distant past:

Victim: Antonia (daughter of orator Marcus Antonius)

• Kidnappers: Cilician pirates
• Location: Misenum, Italy
• When: 99 BC
• Ransom: Unknown
• Final outcome: Released when ransom was paid

Victim: Julius Caesar

• Kidnappers: Cilician pirates
• Location: Near the island of Rhodes
• When: 75 BC
• Ransom: Ransom of 50 talents
• Final outcome: Released; had the pirates killed

Victim: Publius Clodius Pulcher (brother of Roman governor of Cilicia)

• Kidnappers: Cilician pirates
• Location: Coastline of Cilicia
• When: 67 BC
• Ransom: Ransom of 2 talents
• Final outcome: Paid by Ptolemy of Cyprus, ally of Rome

Victim: Residents of Mediterranean coastal towns

• Kidnappers: Pirates
• Location: Coast of Mediterranean Sea
• When: 1st century BC
• Ransom: None made
• Final outcome: Sold into slavery

Victim: St. Patrick

• Kidnappers: Raiders
• Location: Roman Britain
• When: Late 4th century
• Ransom: None made
• Final outcome: Held in captivity in Ireland for 6 years and escaped

Victim: Galla Placidia (daughter of Roman Emperor Theodosius I)

• Kidnappers: Visigoth King Alaric
• Location: Rome
• When: 410
• Ransom: None made
• Final outcome: Later married Alaric’s successor, Ataulf. She returned to Rome after Ataulf died.

Victim: Solange

• Kidnappers: Count of Poitiers
• Location: Villemont, France
• When: Around 880
• Ransom: None made
• Final outcome: Abducted by nobleman who made advances; she resisted, he beheaded her

Victim: Stephen of Blois (future king of England)

• Kidnappers: Matilda
• Location: Lincoln, England
• When: 1141
• Ransom: Sought for exchange of prisoners
• Final outcome: Exchanged for Earl of Gloucester

Victim: Richard the Lionheart

• Kidnappers: Duke of Austria
• Location: Vienna
• When: 1194
• Ransom: 150,000 marks
• Final outcome: It took the English to raise that amount to free Richard

Victim: Borte (wife of Genghis Khan)

• Kidnappers: Rival tribe
• Location: Mongolia
• When: Around 1200
• Ransom: Held as “wife” of tribe’s leader
• Final outcome: Rescued after eight months

Victim: Prince Halil, 11-year-old son of Orhan Bey and Theodora Kantakouzene

• Kidnappers: Marmara Sea pirates
• Location: Izmit, Turkey
• When: 1357
• Ransom: 30,000 ducats ($5.3 million in today’s money)
• Final outcome: Ottoman Empire prince released upon ransom payment

Victim: Chinese women

• Kidnappers: Ming Dynasty
• Location: China
• When: 1368–1644
• Ransom: None made
• Final outcome: Abducted to serve as concubines for emperor

Victim: Atahualpa, last emperor of the Incas

• Kidnappers: Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro
• Location: Cajamarca, Peru
• When: 1532-3
• Ransom: Gold and silver worth $1.5 billion in today’s money
• Final outcome: Eventually executed conquistadors

Victim: John Storey

• Kidnappers: English agents
• Location: Bergen-op-Zoom near Flanders
• When: 1570
• Ransom: None made
• Final outcome: Executed in London

Victim: Miguel de Cervantes

• Kidnappers: Barbary pirates
• Location: Near port of Algiers
• When: 1575
• Ransom: 500 gold ducats
• Final outcome: Spent 5 years as slave until members of the Catholic Trinitarian order helped his family raise the money

Victim: Vincent de Paul

• Kidnappers: Barbary pirates
• Location: Tunis, Tunisia
• When: 1605
• Ransom: None made
• Final outcome: Sold into slavery

Victim: Pocahontas

• Kidnappers: English colonists
• Location: Virginia colony
• When: 1613
• Ransom: Release of English prisoners, return of stolen weapons, and send colonists food
• Final outcome: Remained imprisoned, eventually married colonist John Rolfe