Sport, Democracy and War in Classical Athens
Title | Sport, Democracy and War in Classical Athens PDF eBook |
Author | David Pritchard |
Publisher | Cambridge University Press |
Pages | 265 |
Release | 2013 |
Genre | History |
ISBN | 110700733X |
This book explains why the democracy of classical Athens generously sponsored elite sport and idolised its sporting victors.
Sport, Democracy and War in Classical Athens
Title | Sport, Democracy and War in Classical Athens PDF eBook |
Author | Senior Lecturer David M Pritchard |
Publisher | |
Pages | 266 |
Release | 2014-05-14 |
Genre | HISTORY |
ISBN | 9781139776363 |
Explains why the democracy of classical Athens generously sponsored elite sport and idolised its sporting victors.
Athenian Democracy at War
Title | Athenian Democracy at War PDF eBook |
Author | David Pritchard |
Publisher | Cambridge University Press |
Pages | 313 |
Release | 2019 |
Genre | History |
ISBN | 1108422918 |
Studies all four branches of the Athenian armed forces to show how they helped make democratic Athens a superpower.
War, Democracy and Culture in Classical Athens
Title | War, Democracy and Culture in Classical Athens PDF eBook |
Author | David Pritchard |
Publisher | Cambridge University Press |
Pages | 479 |
Release | 2010-12-23 |
Genre | History |
ISBN | 0521190339 |
Analyses how the democracy of the classical Athenians revolutionized military practices and underwrote their unprecedented commitment to war-making.
Athenian Democracy at War
Title | Athenian Democracy at War PDF eBook |
Author | David Pritchard |
Publisher | |
Pages | 287 |
Release | 2019 |
Genre | Athens (Greece) |
ISBN | 9781108525572 |
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.
Public Spending and Democracy in Classical Athens
Title | Public Spending and Democracy in Classical Athens PDF eBook |
Author | David M. Pritchard |
Publisher | University of Texas Press |
Pages | 161 |
Release | 2015-07-01 |
Genre | History |
ISBN | 029277205X |
In his On the Glory of Athens, Plutarch complained that the Athenian people spent more on the production of dramatic festivals and “the misfortunes of Medeas and Electras than they did on maintaining their empire and fighting for their liberty against the Persians.” This view of the Athenians’ misplaced priorities became orthodoxy with the publication of August Böckh’s 1817 book Die Staatshaushaltung der Athener [The Public Economy of Athens], which criticized the classical Athenian dēmos for spending more on festivals than on wars and for levying unjust taxes to pay for their bloated government. But were the Athenians’ priorities really as misplaced as ancient and modern historians believed? Drawing on lines of evidence not available in Böckh’s time, Public Spending and Democracy in Classical Athens calculates the real costs of religion, politics, and war to settle the long-standing debate about what the ancient Athenians valued most highly. David M. Pritchard explains that, in Athenian democracy, voters had full control over public spending. When they voted for a bill, they always knew its cost and how much they normally spent on such bills. Therefore, the sums they chose to spend on festivals, politics, and the armed forces reflected the order of the priorities that they had set for their state. By calculating these sums, Pritchard convincingly demonstrates that it was not religion or politics but war that was the overriding priority of the Athenian people.
Sport and Democracy in the Ancient and Modern Worlds
Title | Sport and Democracy in the Ancient and Modern Worlds PDF eBook |
Author | Paul Christesen |
Publisher | Cambridge University Press |
Pages | 329 |
Release | 2012-10-15 |
Genre | History |
ISBN | 1139576798 |
This book explores the relationship between sport and democratization. Drawing on sociological and historical methodologies, it provides a framework for understanding how sport affects the level of egalitarianism in the society in which it is played. The author distinguishes between horizontal sport, which embodies and fosters egalitarian relations, and vertical sport, which embodies and fosters hierarchical relations. Christesen also differentiates between societies in which sport is played and watched on a mass scale and those in which it is an ancillary activity. Using ancient Greece and nineteenth-century Britain as case studies, Christesen analyzes how these variables interact and finds that horizontal mass sport has the capacity to both promote and inhibit democratization at a societal level. He concludes that horizontal mass sport tends to reinforce and extend democratization.