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CALL FOR PAPERS for the international conference at the Finnish Institute at Athens, on 22–23 October 2026:</div>
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<span style="font-weight: 700;">‘So(cially) ancient! Representing Ancient and Early Medieval Social, Ethnic and Religious Realities in Video Games’</span></div>
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Video games have become a significant and influential part of mainstream culture. Consequently, historical game studies have rapidly evolved into a new field of study over the last two decades. The objective of this conference is to direct attention towards
two aspects of video games that have received comparatively little scholarly attention; firstly, the representations of social, ethnic and religious aspects of past worlds in video games and, secondly, the reception of the late antique and early medieval periods
(however defined) in video games. We also wish to include non-Eurocentric points of view, such as papers focusing on the rarely discussed social, ethnic and religious aspects of the ‘Byzantine’ empire or SWANA (South-West Asian and North African) societies
in video games.</div>
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In order to encourage discussion between different academic disciplines and to bridge the gap between classical and medieval reception studies, we welcome case studies and comparative studies on the reception - in any game genre - of social, ethnic and religious
realities from Classical Antiquity until the Crusades.</div>
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The two keynote speakers who have confirmed their participation are Jane Draycott (Glasgow University) and Robert Houghton (Winchester University).</div>
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<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">We warmly invite scholars from any discipline to submit an abstract, whether they are PhD students or more experienced academics. Please submit your abstracts and a short bio in English (max. 300 words for the abstract and
50 words for the bio) to </span><span style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);"><u><a style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" class="OWAAutoLink" id="OWAa4f3dbb8-aaad-e28a-151e-aa7860a4530d" href="mailto:ajlamp@utu.fi">ajlamp@utu.fi</a></u></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> by
</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-weight: 700;">31 March 2026.</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span></div>
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The results will be communicated in April. The proceedings of the conference will be published in a collected volume.</div>
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<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">The full call for papers can be viewed here: </span>
<span style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);"><u><a style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" class="OWAAutoLink" id="OWA5d75ba3b-c9ad-4940-e299-7dcee5e3fcbb" href="https://lukkarij.wixsite.com/socially-ancient">link</a></u></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><u>.</u></span></div>
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Best regards,</div>
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<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Antti Lampinen (University of Turku), </span><span style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);"><u><a style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" class="OWAAutoLink" id="OWA23d0ace9-c14e-c8b3-e27a-e33e976c6cfc" href="mailto:ajlamp@utu.fi">ajlamp@utu.fi</a></u></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span></div>
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<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Jasmin Lukkari (University of Helsinki), </span>
<span style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);"><u><a style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" class="OWAAutoLink" id="OWAbd64a639-7203-49b7-aff2-65a1d33660ef" href="mailto:jasmin.lukkari@helsinki.fi">jasmin.lukkari@helsinki.fi</a></u></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span></div>
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