David Pritchard

Fellowship 2015

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David Pritchard is Senior Lecturer in Greek History at the University of Queensland in Australia. He has held research fellowships at the universities of Cincinnati, Copenhagen and Sydney. In 2015 he was Research Fellow in Durham University’s Institute of Advanced Study. In 2014 Dr Pritchard was Visiting Scholar in Greek History at Brown University. In 2013 he was the Charles Gordon Mackay Lecturer in Greek at the University of Edinburgh.

Dr Pritchard has authored Sport, Democracy and War in Classical Athens (Cambridge: 2013) and Public Spending and Democracy in Classical Athens (University of Texas Press: 2015), edited 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). At the University of Strasbourg he is completing for Cambridge University Press a monograph on the armed forces of democratic Athens.

During his Fellowship, David Pritchard has published several popular pieces in French (link), English (link) and German (link) media about the Olympic Games, drawing comparisons with the Olympics in ancient times.

In October 2016, Cambridge University Press has offered Dr Pritchard a contract for his 3rd sole-authored book based largely on his USIAS research, which will be titled Athenian Democracy at War.

War and Democracy in Ancient Athens and Today

Athens developed democracy to higher level than any other society before the modern period. It was the leading cultural innovator of its age. Athens is revered for such achievements. Less known is its extraordinary military record. Athens transformed war and become one of the ancient world’s greatest military powers. There is a strong case that it was its democratic government that brought about this military success. By explaining democracy’s impact on war, this project transforms our understanding of one of the world’s most important states. Political Science has long used ancient Greece as a source of fresh ideas. This project will provide political scientists with new and important lines of enquiry into the wars of today’s democracies.