0_Apprentice
i have been held hostage in a store robbery situation. Do you know anyone who's had this happen to them?
1_Wizard
not personally but i know that they are usually held by belligerent parties or seized as security for the carrying out of an agreement
0_Apprentice
Yeah. The guy who had me was trying to get $10,000 cash. The vault was locked so he couldn't get at it.
1_Wizard
oh wow.. well in contemporary usage, someone is seized by a criminal abductor which sounds like what happened to you
0_Apprentice
Yeah, he had a gun so I didn't really want to try to get away. Do you know what's the earliest recorded hostage in history?
1_Wizard
there is a long history of political and military use where generals would legally agree to hand over one or usually several hostaes in the custody of the other side as a sign of good faith