Classics and Ancient History at UQ

21/08/2026

IN MEMORY OF MOGENS HERMAN HANSEN

T. H. Nielsen, L. Rubenstein and A. Schwartz 2026 (eds.), Tales from a Thousand Cities: Studies in Memory of Mogens Herman Hansen, 111-31, Copenhagen (Classica et mediaevalia Supplement 4).

https://tidsskrift.dk/classicaetmediaevalia/issue/view/13550

REAL HONOUR

It is real honour to be part of this remarkable volume in memory of the late Mogens Herman Hansen. Mogens – along with P. J. Rhodes (Durham) – changed forever the institutional history of ancient democratic Athens. With his one-time doctoral student – Thomas Heine Nielsen – they transformed our understanding of the entire Greek city-state system of 1000 states in archaic and classical times. Mogens died a bit over 2 years ago at the age of 83. This volume in his memory is put together by doctoral students of his: Thomas, of course, Lene Rubenstein and Adam Schwartz. The 35 authors here are a “Who’s Who” of Ancient Greek History in Denmark and the world over. The high quality of the peer-reviewed chapters here – as well as the remarkable extent of 828 pages – bring home to me that a major reason for the prodigious output of the Copenhagen Polis Project was Thomas Heine Nielsen.

CONTRIBUTORS

Peter Fibiger Bang, Kostas Buraselis, Jan-Mathieu Carbon, Paul Carey, Paul Cartledge, Aidan T. Christman, Björn Forsén, Peter Funke, Vincent Gabrielsen, Hans-Joachim Gehrke, Lisa Irene Hau, Simon Hornblower, Signe Isager, Minna Skafte Jensen, Adriaan Lanni, Marcel Lysgaard L**h, Ammon Lev, Peter Liddel, Alberto Maffi, Thomas, R. Martin, Catherine Morgan, Christel Müller, Oswyn Murray, Thomas Heine Nielsen, Josiah Ober, Bjørn Paarmann, Poul Pedersen, David M. Pritchard, James Roy, Lene Rubenstein, Malcolm Schofield, Adam Schwartz, Graham Shipley, Anders Dahl Sørensen and Chr. Gorm Tortzen.

MY CHAPTER

David M. Pritchard 2026, ‘The Cadetship of Classical Athens’, in T. H. Nielsen, L. Rubenstein and Adam Schwartz (eds.), Tales from a Thousand Cities: Studies in Memory of Mogens Herman Hansen, 111-31, Copenhagen (Classica et mediaevalia Supplement 4).

https://edinburgh.academia.edu/DavidPritchard/Papers

https://edwebprofiles.ed.ac.uk/profile/leverhulme-professor-david-m-pritchard

15/08/2026

Edinburgh – 15 August 2026

Edinburgh is a major centre of the early-modern Enlightenment of Europe. And so – you always walk down from the Royal Mile to New Town of the glorious future – as you see here – very thoughtfully.

https://edinburgh.academia.edu/DavidPritchard

https://www.leverhulme.ac.uk/

12/08/2026

CANEVARO AND PRITCHARD – 12 AUGUST 2026

Here you have two regular guys hanging out on South Bridge in downtown Edinburgh tonight. It was simply wonderful to catch up with Professor Mirko Canevaro – the sponsor of my Leverhulme Visiting Professorship at the University of Edinburgh for the next 12 months. Over the last generation half a dozen or so ancient historians here have made Edinburgh a major world centre for historiography on classical Greece. Now there is an “Edinburgh School” as we have had for a bit longer a “Copenhagen School”. A major reason for this is the boundless productivity and openness of Mirko as a Hellenist. Daunting as his erudition may be – he is also now a dab hand at the best single-malt whiskies in downtown Edinburgh. It is going to be a fantastic year in Scotland.

https://edinburgh.academia.edu/DavidPritchard

https://www.leverhulme.ac.uk/

10/08/2026

EDINBURGH – MONDAY 10 AUGUST 2026

There is no denying that I am in Scotland for sure. This is the sign at my neighbouring sports field around which I jog 4 days per week. The Scots are famous for their love of golf and so it is a relief that I will not be killed by a stray golf ball during each jog of 9 kilometres. But that does not mean that I am out of danger. Because you get every season in one day in Edinburgh – the local Scots are practising or playing all sports here at the same time: football, rugby union and cricket. They also love to let their beloved dogs run loose in this local sports field – dogs that do not seem to take all that kindly to Australian joggers. I got to say that ball-strikes and dog-bites were not in the contract when I signed up for this Leverhulme Visiting Professorship at the University of Edinburgh. Hopefully I make it through the next 12 months.

https://edinburgh.academia.edu/DavidPritchard

https://www.leverhulme.ac.uk/

02/08/2026

EDINBURGH – SUNDAY 2 AUGUST 2026

I am most grateful to the University of Edinburgh for letting me live in one of the apartments here in Nether Liberton – 2.5 kilometres from the Old Town – throughout my Leverhulme Visiting Professorship. The bluff on the right is – as many will know – Arthur’s Seat and the cliff-face on the left Salisbury Crags. I have a direct view of Arthur’s Seat when I am conducting research at home. It is magical to see how it changes colour and form as passing clouds cause shadows and as the light lengthens towards the end of each day.

https://edinburgh.academia.edu/DavidPritchard

https://www.leverhulme.ac.uk/

01/08/2026

EDINBURGH – LEVERHULME PROFESSORSHIP

It is wonderful be in Scotland again in order to take up the Leverhulme Visiting Professorship at the University of Edinburgh. Here I am on a famous hill in central Edinburgh and in front of the memorial of AD 1831 for a luminary of the Scottish Enlightenment – the philosopher Dugald Stewart. It is based – of course – on the choral victory monument that a certain Lysicrates set up in Athens in 335 BC and that can still be seen today in the old town of Athens. The monument reminds us how the revolution in early modern European thought rested in no small part on the rediscovery of ancient Greece. It helps to explain why early modern Edinburgh was considered to be “the Athens of the North”. It is an honour to spending a whole year in this storied and beautiful city of learning. I once again thank the Leverhulme Trust for making it all possible.

https://edinburgh.academia.edu/DavidPritchard

https://www.leverhulme.ac.uk/

22/07/2026

BIEN AVANT ORMUZ – NOUVELLE TRIBUNE

David M. Pritchard 2026, « Bien avant Ormuz, Athènes a fait du contrôle d’un détroit près de Troie la clé de sa fortune », The Conversation (Édition française) 22 juillet.

https://theconversation.com/bien-avant-ormuz-athenes-a-fait-du-controle-dun-detroit-pres-de-troie-la-cle-de-sa-fortune-287981

https://uq.academia.edu/DavidPritchard/Op.-eds

RÉSUMÉ

Les aventures d’Ulysse commencent aux portes des Dardanelles. Ce n’est pas un hasard : dans l’Antiquité, ce détroit était l’un des points névralgiques du commerce méditerranéen. L’histoire des Dardanelles montre que des cités et des empires peuvent s’élever ou s’effondrer selon qu’ils contrôlent ou non une voie maritime stratégique. Les États les plus avisés – comme l’Athènes démocratique – ont sécurisé ces détroits sur plusieurs générations, en mobilisant l’ensemble de leurs outils diplomatiques et militaires. Mettre en péril la liberté du commerce sur de tels axes maritimes, ou agir avec imprudence à leur égard, peut avoir des conséquences considérables.

This op.-ed. was first published in English here:

https://theconversation.com/how-controlling-and-tolling-a-narrow-waterway-near-ancient-troy-changed-history-287571

More information about the author can be found here:

https://uq.academia.edu/DavidPritchard

20/07/2026

https://www.awaws.org/history-of-women/vale-marguerite-johnson

AWAWS was shocked and saddened to hear of the recent death of emerita professor Marguerite Johnson on the island of Lesvos. She was a brilliant, kind and thoughtful supporter, mentor and teacher of...

17/07/2026

BEYOND TROY – KATHIMERINI

David M. Pritchard 2026, ‘Beyond Troy: The Real Strategic Battle behind Nolan “Odyssey”’, Kathimerini 17 July.

https://www.ekathimerini.com/culture/1309864/beyond-troy-the-real-strategic-battle-behind-homers-odyssey/

https://uq.academia.edu/DavidPritchard/Op.-eds

IN BRIEF

Christopher Nolan's film is a poignant and timeless lesson about the human costs of war and how waging it should be an absolute last resort. But the ancient history of the narrow waterway on which Troy was situated also holds lessons for understanding the current war between the United States and Iran. The history of the Dardanelles warns us that states and empires can rise and fall over who controls such a waterway. Prudent states – such as democratic Athens – secure such straits over generations, using all the tools in their diplomatic and military tool kits to do so. To imperil free trade through such waterways or to act recklessly in relation to them can come at a terrible cost.

16/07/2026

ANCIENT TROY – OPINION PIECE

David M. Pritchard 2026, “How Controlling (and Tolling) a Narrow Waterway near Ancient Troy Changed History”, The Conversation, 17 July.

https://theconversation.com/how-controlling-and-tolling-a-narrow-waterway-near-ancient-troy-changed-history-287571

IN BRIEF

Christopher Nolan's film is a poignant and timeless lesson about the human costs of war and how waging it should be an absolute last resort. But the ancient history of the narrow waterway on which Troy was situated also holds lessons for understanding the current war between the United States and Iran. The history of the Dardanelles warns us that states and empires can rise and fall over who controls such a waterway. Prudent states – such as democratic Athens – secure such straits over generations, using all the tools in their diplomatic and military tool kits to do so. To imperil free trade through such waterways or to act recklessly in relation to them can come at a terrible cost.