9781422280263

Members of the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team.

In Ancient Times In the second century BCE in the Middle East, the Syrians seized the relatives of community leaders as hostages in their fight against their Jewish neighbors. The idea was to make the Jews think twice about attacking the Syrian army: if they did so, then their relatives would be killed. The army of ancient Rome did the same with the tribes they were fighting and sometimes made hostages of a chieftain’s children to make sure he behaved himself. Sometimes, money was the motive for hostage taking. For example, in medieval times, important people like kings or nobles were often held as hostages in exchange for large ransoms . This was usually after they had been taken prisoner in a war; but as hostages they were well treated, with all the honor due to their high position. Money and vengeance were the reasons behind the most famous act of hostage taking in English history: King Richard I, known as the Lionheart. In 1191, Richard was one of the

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