Waging War in Fourth-Century Athens: New Appraisals

Waging War in Fourth-Century Athens New Appraisals Edited By David M. Pritchard, Ian Worthington Copyright 2026DescriptionThis volume provides a new assessment of Athens’ military capabilities and war efforts in the fourth century BC, highlighting the close connection between its democracy and military affairs.Athens after the Peloponnesian War has been the subject of intense study, particularly its military capabilities and war efforts and the workings of its democracy. We still do not have, however, a comprehensive assessment of Athens’ military record in the fourth century. This book provides a new detailed picture of this period, exploring what Athens was capable of and what it achieved militarily and diplomatically after its defeat in the Peloponnesian War. The volume also reassesses aspects of Athenian warmaking and warfare, including diplomatic and economic matters, from 404 BC down to and including the Lamian War of 323–322 BC.Waging War in Fourth-Century Athens: New Appraisals is suitable for students and scholars in Classics and Ancient History, as well as those operating in adjacent fields of study, along with the general reader interested in the ancient world, warfare, and politics.Table of Contents List of Contributors iPrefaceNotes on StyleAbbreviations General IntroductionPaul CartledgePart 1. Warfare, Politics, and Economics1 Democracy, Politics, and War in the Fourth CenturyLynette Mitchell2 Rethinking Athenian Military Public Finance: Financial Strategies for War-Making in the Early Fourth CenturyAnnabel Florence3 The Theorika in Its Social, Fiscal, and Discursive Context: Fighting Philip or Helping the Needy?Dorothea Rohde4 The Military Reforms of Fourth-Century AthensDavid M. PritchardPart 2. Military Branches5 The Athenian Navy in the Fourth Century: Restoration, Transformation, ReformationVincent Gabrielsen6 What to Do with the Thousand Hippeis after 404?: Debating Reform to the Athenian Cavalry in the Fourth CenturyJérémy Clément7 ‘Not Diminished, but Greater and Better’: Athenian Hoplite Performance in the Fourth CenturyAdam Schwartz8 Athenian PeltastsNicholas V. SekundaPart 3. Military Power and War Efforts9 From the ‘Sound of the Flute’ to the ‘Death of a City’: Reflections on Athenian Poliorcetics from 404 to 322J. Baldacini10 The Revival of Athenian Hegemony in the Corinthian WarMarie Durnerin11 From the Cadmea to Chaeronea: The Second League as a Form of Athenian ImperialismSviatoslav Dmitriev12 The Athenian War Effort Against Philip II of MacedoniaIan Worthington13 From Chaeronea to Lamia: A ‘Shipwrecked State’?Lara O’SullivanPart 4. Popular Attitudes and the Military14 Generals and Generalship in the Fourth-Century OratorsJoseph Roisman15 From Villain to Hero: Conon’s Rehabilitation, Warfare, and DemocracyAggelos Kapellos16 Military Values in Fourth-Century TragedyD.M. Carter IndexEditor(s) BiographyDavid M. Pritchard is Associate Professor of Greek History, Discipline of Classics and Ancient History, at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, and has published widely on Greek history. His most recent publications are Athenian Democracy at War (2019) and the edited The Athenian Funeral Oration: After Nicole Loraux (2024).Ian Worthington is Professor of Ancient History at Macquarie University, Sydney, and has published extensively on Greek History and Greek oratory. His most recent publications are Macedonia Under the Argead Kings (2026), The Military Legacy of Alexander the Great: Lessons for the Information Age with Major Michael Ferguson (2024), and The Last Kings of Macedonia and the Triumph of Rome (2023).