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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
2015
Other Outputs
'Public Finance and War in Ancient Greece', GREECE AND ROME 62.1
Pritchard, David M. (2015). 'Public Finance and War in Ancient Greece', GREECE AND ROME 62.1.
2015
Journal Article
Public finance and war in Ancient Greece
Pritchard, David M. (2015). Public finance and war in Ancient Greece. Greece and Rome, 62 (1), 48-59. doi: 10.1017/S0017383514000230
2015
Other Outputs
Democracy Means Telling Us the Truth
David M. Pritchard (2015, 03 20). Democracy Means Telling Us the Truth The Advertiser 26-26.
2015
Other Outputs
Balancing the Greek Budget: The Ancient Athenian Perspective
David M. Pritchard (2015, 03 14). Balancing the Greek Budget: The Ancient Athenian Perspective Kathimerini 3-3.
2015
Other Outputs
Balancing the Budget: The Ancient Greek Perspective
David M. Pritchard (2015, 03 14). Balancing the Budget: The Ancient Greek Perspective Neos Kosmos 25-25.
2015
Other Outputs
If the Ancient Greeks Could Balance a Budget, Why Can’t We?
David M. Pritchard (2015, 03 06). If the Ancient Greeks Could Balance a Budget, Why Can’t We? The Age
2015
Other Outputs
The cost of Athenian democracy
Pritchard, David M. (2015). The cost of Athenian democracy.
2015
Journal Article
Deporte y democracia en la Atenas clásica
Pritchard, David M. (2015). Deporte y democracia en la Atenas clásica. El Futuro Des Pasado, 6 (6), 69-86. doi: 10.14516/fdp.2015.006.001.002
2015
Book Chapter
Athens
Pritchard, David M. (2015). Athens. A Companion to Ancient Education. (pp. 112-122) edited by W. Martin Bloomer. Chicester, United Kingdom: John Wiley & Sons. doi: 10.1002/9781119023913.ch6
2015
Journal Article
The position of attic women in democratic Athens
Pritchard, David M. (2015). The position of attic women in democratic Athens. Ancient History: resources for teachers, 41-44 (2011-2014), 43-65.
2014
Journal Article
The position of Attic women in democratic Athens
Pritchard, David M. (2014). The position of Attic women in democratic Athens. Greece and Rome, 61 (2), 174-193. doi: 10.1017/S0017383514000072
2014
Other Outputs
The position of Attic women in democratic Athens
Pritchard, David M. (2014). The position of Attic women in democratic Athens.
2014
Journal Article
The Public Payment of Magistrates in Fourth-Century Athens
Pritchard, David M. (2014). The Public Payment of Magistrates in Fourth-Century Athens. Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 54 (1), 1-16.
2013
Journal Article
Lessons from the Ancient Olympics
Pritchard, David (2013, 03 01). Lessons from the Ancient Olympics Kathimerini 2-2.
2013
Journal Article
What is the value of Olympic Gold?
Pritchard, David (2013, 02 27). What is the value of Olympic Gold? Kathimerini
2013
Other Outputs
The Democratic Support of Athletics in Classical Athens
Pritchard, David M. (2013). The Democratic Support of Athletics in Classical Athens.
2012
Other Outputs
"Public Honours for Panhellenic Sporting Victors in Democratic Athens"
Pritchard, David M. (2012). "Public Honours for Panhellenic Sporting Victors in Democratic Athens".
2012
Other Outputs
"Athletics in satyric drama", Greece and Rome 59.2
Pritchard, David (2012). "Athletics in satyric drama", Greece and Rome 59.2.
2012
Other Outputs
The Way the Ancient Greeks Idolised Olympic Victors Gives Fresh Insights into How We Benefit from the Games
David M. Pritchard (2012, 08 14). The Way the Ancient Greeks Idolised Olympic Victors Gives Fresh Insights into How We Benefit from the Games The Advertiser 18-18.
2012
Other Outputs
Paying Your Way to the Olympics
David M. Pritchard (2012, 05 26). Paying Your Way to the Olympics Neos Kosmos 31-31.
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
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Doctor Philosophy
Democracy and Religion in Classical Athens
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Alastair Blanshard
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Master Philosophy
Peace and War in the Public Discourse of Democratic Athens
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Alastair Blanshard
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Master Philosophy
Peace and War in the Public Discourse of Democratic Athens
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Alastair Blanshard
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Master Philosophy
Democracy at War: The Military Reforms of Fourth-Century Athens
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Annabel Florence
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Doctor Philosophy
War and Politics in Archaic Athens: A Reassessment
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Alastair Blanshard
Completed supervision
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2025
Master Philosophy
Peace and War in the Public Discourse of Democratic Athens
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Alastair Blanshard
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2020
Doctor Philosophy
Athens After Defeat: Warmaking and Public Finance from 404/3 to 370/69 BC
Principal Advisor
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2014
Master Philosophy
Attic Women and Goddesses: Democracy, Patriarchy and Religion
Principal Advisor
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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
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