Playing Antiquity
Playing Antiquity
Video Games, Teaching and Historical Knowledge
Playing Antiquity is an annual thematic series published within AI & Antiquity: Journal of Teaching and Technology in Ancient Studies. It provides a continuing forum for research on video games and the ancient world, bringing together teaching, historical interpretation, technology, and reception.
Through rules, mechanics, narratives, maps, economies, and systems of player choice, video games turn interpretations of Antiquity into playable experiences. The series examines how these experiences construct historical knowledge, shape encounters with the ancient world, and create opportunities for critical learning.
One dedicated issue is published annually alongside the journal’s two regular issues. Contributions form part of AI & Antiquity and follow its editorial policies and review procedures. The series follows the journal’s Diamond Open Access model, with no fees for authors or readers.
What happens when the ancient world becomes playable? Playing Antiquity explores how games represent historical processes, distribute agency, and invite players to act within particular interpretations of the past.
Scope and Research Areas
The series welcomes interdisciplinary work from Ancient History, Classics, Archaeology, Game Studies, Reception Studies, Education, Digital Humanities, and Public History. Contributions may address individual games, comparative cases, teaching experiences, or theoretical and methodological questions.
Teaching and Learning
The critical use of games in schools, universities, museums, and outreach; historical literacy; classroom experiences; and the comparison of playable representations with ancient evidence.
Technology and Historical Knowledge
The translation of ancient politics, warfare, economies, religion, and social relations into mechanics, interfaces, and simulations; player agency, historical causation, uncertainty, and counterfactuality.
Reception and Player Cultures
Representations of ancient societies, identities, landscapes, and monuments; popular understandings of Antiquity; and the role of player communities, modding, and fan practices in interpreting the past.
Artificial Intelligence and Simulation
AI-driven characters, generative content, adaptive environments, and AI-assisted design; their implications for historical interpretation, educational practice, bias, and transparency.
Contributions need not address artificial intelligence or include a classroom application. Studies of reception, game mechanics, narrative, and player experience are welcome where they offer a substantive engagement with Antiquity and its interpretation.
Inaugural Issue · 2027
The first issue welcomes contributions across the series’ research areas. We invite research articles, reflective essays, teaching reports, classroom case studies, digital project presentations, interviews, and relevant reviews.
Full manuscript submission deadline
February 28, 2027
Expected publication
June 2027
Issues in the Series
FORTHCOMING · JUNE 2027
Playing Antiquity: Video Games, Teaching and Historical Knowledge
The inaugural issue is scheduled for June 2027. Its table of contents and open-access articles will be linked here upon publication.
Contributing to Playing Antiquity
We welcome contributions from researchers, educators, and developers working on games and the ancient world. Please consult the current call for its scope and deadlines, and the journal’s editorial guidelines for formatting, review policies, and ethical AI disclosure requirements.
For questions about the suitability of a contribution or proposals for future thematic issues, please contact the journal’s editorial team.