Dr David Pritchard

Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Department of Classics & Ancient History
School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiry (SOPHI)
Main Quadrangle (A14)
The University of Sydney
NSW 2006
Australia
office: Room J609
phone: +61-2-9351 6815
fax: +61-2-9351 3918

Dr David Pritchard is an ancient historian whose research interests include the Olympic Games, Greek sport and education, cultural and political participation in the Athenian democracy, the culture of war in ancient Greece and the relationship between war and democracy in the ancient and modern worlds.

War minus the Shooting: Sport and Democracy in Classical Athens

This book comes to grips for the first time with the paradox of sport in classical Athens. Democracy may have opened up politics to every class of Athenian but it had little impact on sporting participation; for the city’s athletes continued to be drawn from the upper class alone. It comes as a surprise then that ordinary Athenians actually esteemed athletes above every other group in the public eye, handed them ‘the key to the city’ when they won and spent up big on sporting contests and facilities. Athletics also escaped the otherwise persistent criticism of upper-class activities in Athenian popular culture. Explanation for this bizarre state of affairs lies in the close relationship between athletics and the new style of democratic warfare the Athenians developed and waged. The disturbing conclusion of this research is that the mass warfare of the democracy supported and legitimised its elitist sporting culture. This forthcoming book shall be published by Cambridge University Press.

War, Culture and Democracy in Classical Athens

This project brings together some of the world’s leading archaeologists, ancient historians and political scientists to explore collaboratively the relationship between war, culture and democracy in classical Athens. Fourteen of us attended a Sydney-based conference in July 2006. David Konstan (Brown University) and Sophie Mills (University of North Carolina at Asheville) will be visiting Australia to deliver their contributions in August 2007. Josh Ober (Stanford University) presents the new democratic mechanisms for aggregating and testing useful knowledge as a major reason for its military success. Ryan Balot (University of Toronto) shows how the integration of deliberation into the Athenians’ ideal of courage contributed to their superior initiative as soldiers. Alastair Blanshard (University of Sydney), Iain Spence (University of New England) and Matthew Trundle (Victoria University of Wellington) demonstrate how the open debates and flexible popular culture of the Athenians freed them to invent forms of combat and solutions to military problems which strictly contradicted the traditional ideology of war. David Pritchard explains how the dynamic of mass and elite propelled the military innovations of classical Athens, its efficient prosecution of campaigns and the democratisation of military ideology, which greatly enhanced the military commitment of ordinary citizens. Peter Hunt (University of Colorado at Boulder) and David Rosenbloom (Victoria University of Wellington) suggest the moral justifications of empire and triumphal versions of military history permeating popular culture raised the propensity of Athenians to wage war. Polly Low (University of Manchester) and Sumio Yoshitake (Nagoya University) explain how this legitimising of war was enhanced by the commemoration of the war dead. Patricia Hannah (University of Otago), Meg Miller (University of Sydney) and Robin Osborne (University of Cambridge) give new insights into the representations of soldiers in private art and their relationship to popular culture. John Keane (Westminster University/University of Sydney) compares the politics and culture of war in Athens to those of modern democracies. The papers of our group shall be published as an edited collection by Cambridge University Press.

Sydney Democracy Forum

The Sydney Democracy Forum supports interdisciplinary discussion among researchers and enhanced dialogue between the research sector and government on all aspects of democracy. Among the issues to be taken up for debate are:

• The conditions for successful democratisation
• The conditions for a vigorous democracy
• The practice and institutions of democracy
• The philosophical underpinnings of democracy
• Human rights and democracy
• Foreign policy and democracy
• War and democracy
• Terrorism and democracy
• The history of democracy in the ancient and modern worlds.

The Sydney Democracy Forum convenes lectures, seminars and workshops by local and overseas researchers and policymakers on these and other related issues. Formal membership in the Sydney Democracy Forum is open to researchers, including postgraduates, policymakers and government practitioners. Members of the Forum can participate actively in its program and will have their contact details and research interests posted on its website and be part of an electronic discussion group. The principal sponsors of the Forum are ARC Professorial Fellow and . To join the Forum, please contact its Program Coordinator, . Please indicate to her whether you wish to be a formal member of the Forum or to receive e-mail updates concerning its events only. Inaugural Program details

• PhD in Ancient History (Macquarie University 2000)
• BA Hons in Ancient History (Macquarie University 1991).

• University of Sydney Postdoctoral Research Fellowship
• Macquarie University Research Fellowship (2004-5)
• Junior Research Fellowship of the Australian Centre for Ancient Numismatic Studies (2001-2)
• Postgraduate Scholarship of the Australian Archaeological Institute at Athens (1998)
• Australian Postgraduate Research Award (1992-5)
• University Medal in Ancient History (Macquarie University 1991)
• Macquarie Ancient History Association Award for Best Honours Thesis (1991).

• 2006, ‘War, Democracy and Popular Culture in Classical Athens’ presented at War, Culture and Democracy in Classical Athens: An International Conference, convened by the University of Sydney; and to seminars at the Institute for Classical Studies (University College London) and Columbia University.
• 2006, ‘War minus the Shooting: Sport and Democracy in Classical Athens’ presented at the twenty-seventh conference of the Australasian Society for Classical Studies, convened by the University of Tasmania (Hobart); the Celtic Conference IV, convened by the University of Wales (Lampeter); and to a seminar at Brown University.
• 2005, ‘War minus the Shooting: Sport, War and Democracy in Classical Athens’ presented at the annual meeting of the Classical Association of Canada, convened by the University of Calgary at the Banff Center; to seminars at University College London and the University of Nagoya (Japan); and at an afternoon of papers at the University of Sydney to mark the retirement of Dr James (Jim) O’Neil.
• 2005, ‘War, Popular Culture and Democracy in Fifth-Century Athens’ presented at the twenty-sixth conference of the Australasian Society for Classical Studies, convened by the University of Otago (Dunedin), and to seminars at the universities of Cambridge, Nagoya (Japan), Sydney and Wales.
• 2004, ‘The Greek City of Coins: Terina in South Italy’ presented in a seminar of the Australian Centre for Ancient Numismatic Studies (Macquarie University).
  2004, ‘Athletics, Warfare and Democracy in Classical Athens’ presented to a seminar of the Department of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Sydney; the Hurstville Regional Museum; the Athens Day Conference, convened by Macquarie University; the Classical Association of Otago; the Classical Association of Canterbury; and the Classical Association of Victoria.
• 2004, ‘Kleisthenes, Participation, and the Dithyrambic Contests of Late Archaic and Classical Athens’ presented at seminars of the Departments of Classics at the University of Otago, the University of Canterbury and the University of Melbourne; the Australian Archaeological Institute at Athens; and at the twenty-fifth conference of the Australian Society for Classical Studies, convened by La Trobe University (Bendigo).
• 2002, ‘Participation in the Tribally Organized Dithyrambic Contests of Classical Athens’ presented at the ‘Greek Drama III’ conference, convened by the University of Sydney.
• 2000, ‘Gilding the Lily: Poor Citizens and Participation in the Tribal Team Events of Classical Athens’ presented at the Olympia and the Olympics: Festival and Identity in the Ancient World Conference, jointly hosted by Macquarie and Sydney universities; and at the Treasures of Greece: Athletes and Olympia Study Day, organised by the WEA and the Powerhouse Museum (Sydney).
• 1999, ‘The Fractured Imaginary: Popular Thinking on Citizen Soldiers and Warfare in Fifth-Century Athens’ presented at the Australian Archaeological Institute at Athens.
• 1998, ‘Fool's Gold and Silver: Reflections on the Evidentiary Status of Finely Painted Attic Pottery’ presented at a seminar of the Department of Classical Archaeology at the University of Sydney; and at the twenty-first conference of the Australian Society for Classical Studies, convened by the University of Queensland (Brisbane).
• 1996, ‘The Fractured Imaginary: Military Thought in Fifth-Century Athens’ presented in at the Narrating Antiquity Symposium, convened by the University of New England (Armidale).
• 1993, ‘Thetes, Hoplites and the Athenian Imaginary’ presented at the Ancient History in a Modern University Conference, marking twenty-five years of Ancient History at Macquarie University and the retirement of its inaugural chair, Professor Edwin Judge.

Books

• 2003, With D.J. Phillips (eds.) Sport and Festival in the Ancient Greek World, Swansea (Classical Press of Wales.)

Chapters

• 2003, With D.J. Phillips ‘Introduction’, in D.J. Phillips and D. Pritchard (eds.) Sport and Festival in the Ancient Greek World, vii-xxxi, Swansea (Classical Press of Wales).
  
  2003, ‘Athletics, Education and Participation in Classical Athens’, in D.J. Phillips and D.M. Pritchard (eds.) Sport and Festival in the Ancient Greek World, 293-349, Swansea (Classical Press of Wales).
• 1998, ‘Thetes, Hoplites and the Athenian Imaginary’, in T.W. Hillard, R.A. Kearsley, C.E.V. Nixon and A.M. Nobbs (eds) Ancient History in a Modern University: Volume 1: The Ancient Near East, Greece and Rome, 121-7, Grand Rapids (William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company).

Articles

• 2006, ‘War minus the Shooting: Sport and Democracy in Classical Athens’, Modern Greek Studies Australia and New Zealand 14 (in press).
• 2005, ‘Kleisthenes and Athenian Democracy: Vision from Above or Below?’, Polis 22, 136-57.
• 2005, ‘Athletics, War and Democracy in Classical Athens’, Teaching History 39.4, 4-10.
• 2005, ‘War and Democracy in Ancient Athens: A Preliminary Report’, Classicum 31, 16-25.
• 2004, ‘A Woman’s Place in Classical Athens: An Overview’, Ancient History 34, 170-91.
• 2004, ‘Kleisthenes, Participation, and the Dithyrambic Contests of Late Archaic and Classical Athens’, Phoenix 58, 208-28.
• 2003, ‘Participation in the ‘Old Education’ of Classical Athens’, Classicum 29, 9-21.
• 2001, ‘Dancing for Dionysos’, Classicum 27, 6-13.
• 2000, ‘Tribal Solidarity and Participation in Fifth-Century Athens: A Summary’, Ancient History 31, 104-18.
• 1999, ‘Fool’s Gold and Silver: Reflections on the Evidentiary Status of Finely Painted Attic Pottery’, Antichthon 33, 1-27.
• 1998, ‘‘The Fractured Imaginary’: Popular Thinking on Military Matters in Fifth-Century Athens’, Ancient History 28, 38-61.
• 1996, ‘Thucydides and the Tradition of the Athenian Funeral Oration’, Ancient History 26, 137-50.
• 1995, ‘How the Athenian Military was Organised in the Late Fifth Century’, Stele 1, 70-3.
• 1994, ‘From Hoplite Republic to Thetic Democracy: The Social Context of the Reforms of Ephialtes’, Ancient History 24, 111-40.
• 1993, ‘Antigone in Paris: The Civic Context of Athenian Tragedy’, Ancient History 23, 8-18.
• 1991, ‘Thucydides, Class Struggle and Empire’, Ancient History 21, 77-85.

Reviews

1. 2005a, Review of G. Anderson 2003, The Athenian Experiment: Building an Imagined Political Community in Ancient Attica, 508-490 BC (Ann Arbor), BMCR February, no. 46 (see:
   http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/bmcr /2005/2005-02-46.html).

• Founder and Co-Principal Sponsor of the Sydney Democracy Forum (2007-present)
• Convenor of the Seminar Program of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Sydney (2005-6)
• Member of the Executive Committee of the Australasian Society for Classical Studies (2000-5)
• ASCS Representative on the Council of the Australian Archaeological Institute at Athens (2001-3)
• Postgraduate Representative of the Australasian Society for Classical Studies (1998-9).