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Classical Athens perfected direct democracy. The plays of this ancient Greek state are still staged today. These achievements are rightly revered. Less well known is the other side of this success story. Democratic Athens completely transformed warfare and became a superpower. The Athenian armed forces were unmatched in size and professionalism. This book explores the major reasons behind this military success. It shows how democracy helped the Athenians to be better soldiers. For the first time David M. Pritchard studies, together, all four branches of the armed forces. He focuses on the background of those who fought Athens' wars and on what they thought about doing so. His book reveals the common practices that Athens used right across the armed forces and shows how Athens' pro-war culture had a big impact on civilian life. The book puts the study of Athenian democracy at war on an entirely new footing.
Classical Athens perfected direct democracy. The plays of this ancient Greek state are still staged today. These achievements are rightly revered. Less well known is the other side of this success story. Democratic Athens completely transformed warfare and became a superpower. The Athenian armed forces were unmatched in size and professionalism. This book explores the major reasons behind this military success. It shows how democracy helped the Athenians to be better soldiers. For the first time David M. Pritchard studies, together, all four branches of the armed forces. He focuses on the background of those who fought Athens' wars and on what they thought about doing so. His book reveals the common practices that Athens used right across the armed forces and shows how Athens' pro-war culture had a big impact on civilian life. The book puts the study of Athenian democracy at war on an entirely new footing.
1. Athenian democracy at war; 2. The armed forces; 3. Naval matters in old comedy; 4. Costing festivals and wars; 5. The cost of the Peloponnesian War; 6. Public finance and war in Ancient Greece; 7. Sport and war; 8. War and Panhellenic sporting victory.
Studies all four branches of the Athenian armed forces to show how they helped make democratic Athens a superpower.
David M. Pritchard is an ancient historian at the University of Queensland. He has won ten research fellowships in Australia, Denmark, France, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. In 2018 Pritchard is again a research fellow in Strasbourg University's Institute for Advanced Study. He has authored Sport, Democracy and War in Classical Athens (Cambridge, 2012) and Public Spending and Democracy in Classical Athens (2015), edited War, Democracy and Culture in Classical Athens (Cambridge, 2010), and co-edited Sport and Festival in the Ancient Greek World (2003). In addition to his five books, Pritchard has published more than fifty book-chapters and peer-reviewed articles. He speaks on radio and regularly writes for newspapers around the world.
'This comprehensive book by internationally respected Australian
scholar Dr Pritchard - the first such, involving a new theory about
democracy and warmaking in ancient Athens - addresses the
relationship between the fact of Athens' democracy and the fact of
its transformational military record. Classical Athens is famous
for its direct democracy and innovative culture, but less well
understood is that it was its democracy that caused this military
success.' Paul Cartledge, A. G. Leventis Professor (Emeritus) of
Greek Culture and Senior Research Fellow, Faculty of Classics,
University of Cambridge
'Pritchard's book gives stunning insights into Athenian democracy's
attitude to war. Did the Persian Wars influence the development of
Athenian democracy? Why were wars so important for the prestige of
Athenian citizens? How did the Athenians finance and organise their
wars? In answering these fundamental questions his book analyses
brilliantly the mutual impact that Athenian democracy and war had
on each other.' Claudia Tiersch, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
'David Pritchard has written the definitive account of classical
Athenian warfare. He offers astute analyses of the Athenian armed
forces, military finance, the ideology of war, war and sport, and
the relationship between warfare and democracy. His arguments are
careful; his documentation is meticulous. It will be essential
reading for all serious students of Athens, democracy, and
warfare.' Josiah Ober, Stanford University, California
'A masterful, debatable and elegantly crafted analysis of the
world's first democratic empire and why it was no protagonist of
'democratic peace'.' John Keane, University of Sydney and
Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung
'… this thought-provoking and vital book (aimed at 'students and
teachers, interested general readers and scholars alike') is a must
for anyone interested not just in classical Greek warfare and
politics but in what this can tell us about the relationship
between democracies in general and the military.' David Stuttard,
Classics for All
'… this intelligent, thought-provoking book … is an extremely
useful tool for a reader interested in a comprehensive, critical
overview …' Matteo Zaccarini, The Classical Review
'… an excellent work of scholarship …' Anthony Papalas, Choice
'This is an excellent, up-to-date discussion of the composition and
methods of conscription and remuneration of hoplites, sailors,
archers and horsemen …' Kostas Vlassopoulos, Greece & Rome
'I greatly admire and have benefitted from Pritchard's scholarly
program, and he is an essential author for those working on Athens
and war in any respect. The volume here under review contains many
up-to-date references and facts about a great many topics
pertaining to classical Athens at war.' Matthew Sears, Bryn Mawr
Classical Review
'Athenian Democracy at War is highly recommended for any scholar of
Athens and democracy in the ancient world, because it successfully
fills a gap underlining the reasons for the effectiveness of Athens
in war, and how it could train professional armies and launch huge
fleets which ruled the Aegean with utter dominance. It does not
only analyse the role war played in Athenian culture and democracy,
but also the role democracy played in the development of warfare in
form and scale …' Tomás Bethencourt, Global Intellectual
History
'… throws a good deal of fresh light on the military aspects of
Athenian democracy, and reminds us that historically - despite the
claims of some pundits - democracies very often have made war, even
against each other, and can be imperialistic.' A. A. Nofi
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