Overview
Background
David M. Pritchard is Associate Professor of Greek History at the University of Queensland (Australia), where he has chaired the Discipline of Classics and Ancient History. He has obtained 15 research fellowships in Australia, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. In 2022-3, he was a research fellow in the Nantes Institute for Advanced Study (France). Associate Professor Pritchard is currently the lead chief investigator on a large project that is funded by the Australian Research Council. He is the author of Athenian Democracy at War (Cambridge University Press 2019), Sport, Democracy and War in Classical Athens (Cambridge University Press 2013) and Public Spending and Democracy in Classical Athens (University of Texas Press 2015). Associate Professor Pritchard has edited The Athenian Funeral Oration: After Nicole Loraux (Cambridge University Press 2024) and War, Democracy and Culture in Classical Athens (Cambridge University Press 2010), and co-edited Sport and Festival in the Ancient Greek World (Classical Press of Wales 2003). He has also published 65 journal articles and book chapters. Associate Professor Pritchard has an h-index of 21 and more than 1600 known citations. He has obtained the equivalent of 2 million Australian dollars in research funding. Associate Professor Pritchard speaks on the radio and regularly writes for newspapers around the world. His 50 op.-eds have appeared in, among other outlets, Die Süddeutsche Zeitung (Germany), Le Monde (France), Le Figaro (France), Ouest-France, The Conversation (France), Kathimerini (Greece), Scroll.in (India), The Age (Australia), The Australian and Politike (Brazil). He obtained his PhD in Ancient History from Macquarie University (Australia).
Availability
- Dr David Pritchard is:
- Available for supervision
- Media expert
Fields of research
Qualifications
- Doctor of Philosophy of Ancient History, Macquarie University
- Doctor of Philosophy, Macquarie University
Research interests
-
Fourth-Century Athens at War: After Claude Mossé
This co-edited volume is a major contribution to the rewriting of Athenian history after 404 BC. Traditionally, historians of classical Greece understood the fourth century as a period of steep decline. Claude Mossé – the pioneering French ancient historian – did the most promote the view that fourth-century Athens never recovered from its crushing defeat in the Peloponnesian War. For Mossé, this decline had a clear military dimension: postwar Athens was no longer a military success and hence could not stop the rise of Philip II and Alexander the Great. In the last 40 years, there has been a general rewriting of this traditional view. We now know that fourth-century Athens quickly recovered economically and politically. Nonetheless, we still do not have a new comprehensive assessment of the military record of postwar Athens. Fourth-Century Athens at War provides this new detailed picture. It brings together 18 leading Hellenists to study all aspects of Athenian warfare between 404 and 322. Project-members met at a major conference in Nantes (France) in 2023. Routledge has already expressed the firmest-possible interest in publishing our volume. Fourth-Century Athens at War will probably appear in 2025. This project is also funded by the Australian Research Council.
-
Society and Democracy in Classical Athens
The major project on which I will focus after 2023. I will seek up to 2.5 million € of funding for this major 5-year project from the Australian Research Council, the European Research Council, the British Academy and/or the UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Council. The project will include 2 postdoctoral research fellows and 2 doctoral students. It will thoroughly explore the symbiosis of society and democracy in classical Athens. Classical Athenians generally divided themselves into 2 social classes: the rich and the poor. They did not use these terms vaguely to describe the prosperity of some relative to others. Rather the terms described 2 distinct social groups who, in reality, had different ways of life and public obligations. Vital as this class distinction was, ancient historians have not thoroughly analysed how it operated practically and how it interacted with democratic politics. Drawing especially on the sociology of Pierre Bourdieu, I will analyse how individual Athenians carefully performed their respective class positions and how some of them successfully moved from one class to another. My monograph will also study how democratic politics allowed the poor to redefine this social distinction and to enact public policies in tune with their evolving class-related perceptions. The project’s 4 other members will study afresh the other social groups of classical Athens: Attic women, metics and slaves. In addition to 3 monographs and 2 doctoral theses, there will be a major international conference leading to an edited volume of 20 or so chapters.
-
The Athenian Funeral Oration: After Nicole Loraux
Classical Athens staged a funeral oration almost every year for dead combatants. In 1981, Nicole Loraux transformed our understanding of this literary genre. Her The Invention of Athens showed how it reminded the Athenians who they were as a people. Loraux demonstrated how each funeral speech helped them to maintain the same self-identity for more than a century. In spite of this, The Invention of Athens was far from complete. Loraux played down authorship as a subject because it made it easier for her to prove that the funeral speeches were part of a long-stable tradition. But it also meant that her book ignored important questions about all of them. The funeral oration was striking for being thoroughly pro-war. The Invention of Athens never compared it to the other literary genres that Athenian democracy sponsored. Consequently, Loraux could not prove whether they ever counterbalanced the funeral oration’s cultural militarism. I have brought together 20 Hellenists from across the world to finish Loraux’s book. Cambridge University Press published our edited volume of 554 pages in 2024. The Athenian Funeral Oration: After Nicole Loraux answers the important questions that Loraux ignored. It completes the intertextual analysis that is simply missing in The Invention of Athens. What emerges is a speech that had a much greater political impact than Loraux ever imagined. This edited volume puts the study of war in Athenian culture on a completely new footing.
-
The Children of Athena: The Armed Forces of Classical Athens
Classical Athens perfected participatory democracy, while many plays from there are still staged today. This ancient Greek state is rightly famous for these remarkable political and cultural successes. Much less well known is the other side of Athenian history. Classical Athens completely transformed warfare and quickly became a superpower. The Athenian armed forces were simply unmatched in their size and professionalism. In spite of this striking military success, there is still no book-length study of how the Athenian people waged their almost nonstop wars. I have signed a contract with CUP to publish this monograph. In 431 BC, Pericles famously spoke about the numbers in each branch of the Athenian armed forces. The Armed Forces of Classical Athens fills this significant gap in Athenian historiography by going behind this political leader’s famous numbers. My book studies the institutional history of each of Athens’s 4 military corps as well as the legal and social background of corps-members. It explores how they were recruited and generally thought about their military service. The book reveals for the first time the common concepts and practices that the Athenian people used to manage their armed forces. I have already written two thirds of The Armed Forces of Classical Athens. Cambridge University Press will publish this fourth monograph of mine in 2025. This project is funded by the Australian Research Council.
Research impacts
Democratic Athens was the most important Greek state of the classical world. The major public activities of the classical Athenians were politics, religious festivals and wars. In each activity, Athens was a runaway success. It developed democracy to a far higher level than any other ancient state. It became one of the ancient world’s superpowers. It staged more festivals than any other polis. My research has significantly advanced our knowledge of all 3 activities. I have studied extensively how the Athenians waged their almost nonstop wars. I have published the most detailed analysis of the extent of participation in their games. I have investigated how the conception of sport and war with a common set of concepts impacted on the public standing of both activities. I have shown how the military and the cultural innovations of the Athenians were direct products of their democracy. I have completed the first exhaustive investigation, since August Böckh, of how much they spent on their 3 major public activities.
Works
Search Professor David Pritchard’s works on UQ eSpace
Featured
2024
Book
The Athenian Funeral Oration: After Nicole Loraux
David M. Pritchard ed. (2024). The Athenian Funeral Oration: After Nicole Loraux. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/9781009413053
Featured
2022
Book
A Democracia Ateniense em Guerra
Pritchard, David M. (2022). A Democracia Ateniense em Guerra. Coimbra, Portugal: Imprensa da Universidade de Coimbra. doi: 10.14195/978-989-26-2179-1
Featured
2019
Book
Athenian democracy at war
Pritchard, David M. (2019). Athenian democracy at war. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/9781108525572
Featured
2015
Book
Public Spending and Democracy in Classical Athens
Pritchard, David M. (2015). Public Spending and Democracy in Classical Athens. Austin, TX, United States: University of Texas Press. doi: 10.7560/772038
Featured
2013
Book
Sport, Democracy and War in Classical Athens
Pritchard, David M. (2013). Sport, Democracy and War in Classical Athens. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/CBO9781139030519
Featured
2010
Book
War, Democracy and Culture in Classical Athens
David Pritchard ed. (2010). War, Democracy and Culture in Classical Athens. Cambridge, U.K .: Cambridge University Press.
2024
Book Chapter
The Funeral Oration after Loraux
Pritchard, David M. (2024). The Funeral Oration after Loraux. The Athenian Funeral Oration: After Nicole Loraux. (pp. 1-55) edited by David M. Pritchard. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/9781009413053
2024
Book Chapter
Sailors in the Funeral Oration and Beyond
Pritchard, David M. (2024). Sailors in the Funeral Oration and Beyond. The Athenian Funeral Oration: After Nicole Loraux. (pp. 376-413) edited by David M. Pritchard. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/9781009413053
2023
Other Outputs
An ancient reason for hope in Ukraine
Pritchard, David M. (2023, 07 01). An ancient reason for hope in Ukraine Neos Kosmos 21-21.
2023
Other Outputs
An ancient reason for hope in Ukraine
Pritchard, David M. (2023, 06 02). An ancient reason for hope in Ukraine Kathimerini, English-Language Edition
2023
Other Outputs
The children (and men) of the Piraeus
Pritchard, David M. (2023, 05 02). The children (and men) of the Piraeus Kathimerini, English-Language Edition
2023
Other Outputs
David M. Pritchard 2023 (in press), 'The Funeral Oration after Loraux', in D. M. Pritchard (ed.), The Athenian Funeral Oration: After Nicole Loraux, Cambridge (Cambridge University Press)
Pritchard, David M. (2023). David M. Pritchard 2023 (in press), 'The Funeral Oration after Loraux', in D. M. Pritchard (ed.), The Athenian Funeral Oration: After Nicole Loraux, Cambridge (Cambridge University Press).
2023
Other Outputs
David M. Pritchard 2023 (in press), 'Sailors in the Funeral Oration and Beyond', in D. M. Pritchard (ed.), The Athenian Funeral Oration: After Nicole Loraux, Cambridge (Cambridge University Press)
Pritchard, David M. (2023). David M. Pritchard 2023 (in press), 'Sailors in the Funeral Oration and Beyond', in D. M. Pritchard (ed.), The Athenian Funeral Oration: After Nicole Loraux, Cambridge (Cambridge University Press).
2022
Book Chapter
Sold: Griechisch
Pritchard, David M. (2022). Sold: Griechisch. Militärgeschichte der griechisch-römischen Antike Lexikon. (pp. 969-973) edited by L. A. Burckhardt and M. A. Speidel. Stuttgart, Germany: J. B. Metzler.
2022
Other Outputs
Athenian democracy makes us reflect on war and peace
Pritchard, David M. (2022, 11 11). Athenian democracy makes us reflect on war and peace Neos Kosmos
2022
Other Outputs
La démocratie athénienne nous fait réfléchir sur la guerre et la paix
Pritchard, David M. (2022, 11 11). La démocratie athénienne nous fait réfléchir sur la guerre et la paix Ouest-France 21-21.
2022
Other Outputs
Athenian democracy makes us reflect on war and peace
Pritchard, David M. (2022, 11 11). Athenian democracy makes us reflect on war and peace Kathimerini, English-Language Edition
2022
Book Chapter
Honouring the War Dead in Democratic Athens
Pritchard, David M. (2022). Honouring the War Dead in Democratic Athens. Democracy and Salamis: 2500 Years after the Battle That Saved Greece and the Western World. (pp. 285-305) edited by E. M. L. Economou, N. C. Kyriazis and A. Platias. Heidelberg, Germany: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-98431-1
2022
Book Chapter
The Social Structure of Democratic Athens
Pritchard, David M. (2022). The Social Structure of Democratic Athens. Morte e Vida na Grécia Antiga: Olhares interdisciplinares. (pp. 102-132) edited by M. A. de Oliveira Silva and C. D. de Souza. Teresina, Brazil: Editora da UFPI.
2022
Journal Article
Book review of M. Barbato 2020, The Ideology of Democratic Athens: Institutions, Orators and the Mythical Past, Edinburgh
Pritchard, David M. (2022). Book review of M. Barbato 2020, The Ideology of Democratic Athens: Institutions, Orators and the Mythical Past, Edinburgh. Topoi: Orient-Occident, 24, 519-524.
Funding
Current funding
Supervision
Availability
- Dr David Pritchard is:
- Available for supervision
Before you email them, read our advice on how to contact a supervisor.
Supervision history
Current supervision
-
Master Philosophy
Peace and War in the Public Discourse of Democratic Athens
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Alastair Blanshard
-
Master Philosophy
Democracy at War: The Military Reforms of Fourth-Century Athens
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Annabel Florence
-
Doctor Philosophy
War and Politics in Archaic Athens: A Reassessment
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Alastair Blanshard
-
Doctor Philosophy
Democracy and Religion in Classical Athens
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Alastair Blanshard
-
Master Philosophy
Peace and War in the Public Discourse of Democratic Athens
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Alastair Blanshard
Completed supervision
-
2025
Master Philosophy
Peace and War in the Public Discourse of Democratic Athens
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Alastair Blanshard
-
2020
Doctor Philosophy
Athens After Defeat: Warmaking and Public Finance from 404/3 to 370/69 BC
Principal Advisor
-
-
2014
Master Philosophy
Attic Women and Goddesses: Democracy, Patriarchy and Religion
Principal Advisor
-
2023
Master Philosophy
Domestic Violence in the Athenian Law-Court Speeches: Perception, Procedure and Punishment
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Alastair Blanshard
Media
Enquiries
Contact Dr David Pritchard directly for media enquiries about:
- Ancient Democracy
- Ancient Greece
- Ancient History
- Ancient Sport
- Ancient Warfare
- Classical Athens
- Democracy
- The Ancient Olympics
Need help?
For help with finding experts, story ideas and media enquiries, contact our Media team: