Rate My Professor Davide Morassi

Dr. Davide Morassi serves as a Lecturer in the Department of Classics within the University of Otago's School of Arts, Humanities Division. He holds a BA (2011) and MA (2014) from Università degli Studi di Udine in Italy, an MSc (2016) from the University of Edinburgh, and a DPhil (2022) in Ancient History from the University of Oxford. His doctoral dissertation, "Shepherds of men: A reassessment of the Athenian strategoi in the classical period," provides a comprehensive analysis of the institutional roles, tactical influences, organizational responsibilities, and personal authority of Athenian generals during the fifth and fourth centuries BCE.

Morassi's scholarly pursuits focus on ancient Greek history of the Classical Period, the multifaceted impacts of ancient warfare on individuals, communities, and institutions, and the institutional functions of Classical Athenian strategoi. Additional interests include leadership as conceptualized and transmitted in antiquity, particularly in the works of Xenophon; the history of emotions, with emphasis on their role in Classical Greek warfare; emotional management and awareness; masculinities and gender dynamics in Classical Athens; and the sensorial, especially visual, dimensions of ancient wars. Currently, he is advancing research on the emotional dimensions of Greek warfare in the fifth and fourth centuries BCE, critically assessing modern concepts like 'morale' against ancient sources to map key emotional dynamics and their interaction with practical aspects of combat. Before joining Otago, Morassi was a postdoctoral researcher at Universidad Complutense de Madrid and a faculty member in History at the University of Southampton.

His notable publications encompass peer-reviewed articles such as "War mandates in the Peloponnesian War: The agency of Athenian strategoi" in Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies (2022) and "Roman republican cavalry shock tactics: The case study of detrahere frenum" in L'Antiquité Classique (2022). He has also contributed the chapter "Manliness as motive for action: A discussion of (toxic) masculinity in the Antigone and the Lysistrata" to the edited volume Toxic Masculinity in the Ancient World (Edinburgh University Press, 2023), along with case studies like "High Risk, High Reward: Clearchus and the Mutiny of the Ten Thousand" (2022). Morassi supervises research in Greek history, ancient warfare, leadership, Athenian institutions, and emotions in Greek warfare. In teaching, he offers courses including CLAS 241: Alexander the Great, GREK 212: Intermediate Greek Authors, GREK 328: Advanced Greek Authors 1, and GREK 464: A Topic in Greek Literature.