We are delighted to invite you to an international conference So(cially) Ancient! Representing Ancient and Early Medieval Social, Ethnic and Religious Realities in Video Games, organised at the Finnish Institute at Athens on 22–23 October 2026. Please find the conference programme below. It is also available on the conference web page https://lukkarij.wixsite.com/socially-ancient.
Participation is possible both in Athens and on Zoom. Due to limited seating capacity at the conference venue, we kindly encourage you to participate remotely. The seats will be primarily reserved for the presenters. Participation is free and open to everyone.
Online
Register via the following link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/EWAtW2GYRHWYPDEEJuMxdw
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
In-person
Register by sending an email to edufi@finninstitute.gr.
PROGRAMME:
DAY 1 – THURSDAY 22 OCTOBER
9-9:30: Welcome and introduction
9:30-10:30 Keynote 1 – Jane Draycott: ’‘Everything public that exists about this game is a statement of intent’: The challenges of researching historical & archaeological video games’
(Chair: Jasmin Lukkari)
10:30-11 Coffee
11-12:50 Session 1: Religions and mythologies
(Chair: Antti Lampinen)
- Daniel Hinz (Cologne): ‘Faith as a Resource: Mechanising Religion and the Diachronic Evolution of Cultural Representation in Age of Mythology and its Remake’
- Juha Isotalo (Turku): ‘Atheist Herodotus? Representation of Greek Religious Reality and Practice in Historical Video Games’
- Athanasios Votsis & Dina Babuskhina (Twente): ‘Digital Socratism: An existential-semiotic analysis of the Apotheon video game’
- Charles W. Oughton (Brigham Young): ‘Deus Ludens: The Mechanics of Religion in the Total War Series’
12:50-14:30 Lunch (for the speakers)
14:30-16 Session 2: Ancient social conditions
(Chair: Timothy Hart)
- Alice Rieti (Trento): ‘Playing Sparta: Society and Religion in Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey’
- Niklas Ziegler & Vincent Hupfauer (Mainz): ‘When in Rome, Do as the Romans Did? Anno 117’s portrayal of slavery and slavery-related violence’
- Julie Sawezyn (Sorbonne): ‘The Witch strikes back: feminine power and mythic rewriting in Hades II’
16-16:30 Coffee
16:30-18 Session 3: Ethnic otherness I
(Chair: Antti Lampinen)
- Anna-Sofia Alitalo (Oxford): ‘Painted Egyptians, Greeks of White Marble: Considering Statues in Assassin’s Creed: Origins through the Lens of Chromophobia’
- Edward Hammond (Bristol): ‘Carthaginian Religion in Total War: ROME II and Old World: A Historical Problem Space Analysis’
- Maelenn Nivet (Sorbonne): ‘Playable barbarians: ancient stereotypes or modern nationalism?’
20:00: Dinner for the speakers at the restaurant Tzitzikas & Mermigas (Mitropoleos str 12)
DAY 2 – FRIDAY 23 OCTOBER
9:30-10:30 Keynote 2 – Robert Houghton: ‘God from the machine: systematising religion in Crusader Kings III’
(Chair: Antti Lampinen)
10:30-11 Coffee
11-12:50 Session 4: Late Antique and Medieval religions
(Chair: Jasmin Lukkari)
- Karl Dahm (St Andrews): ‘Essentialising Religious Diversity – The Depiction of Late Antique Christianity in the Total War Series’
- Prolet Decheva (Mainz): ‘Christian relics in video games’
- Thomas Besson (Sorbonne): ‘A Church in the shadows: from the Dark Ages to the classroom in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla’
- Juan Manuel Rubio Arévalo (Vienna, ONLINE): ‘Assassin’s Creed (2007), the Crusades, and the War on Terror. Historical Realism as a Methodological Approach for the Analysis of Historical Video Games’
12:50-14:30 Lunch (for the speakers)
14:30-16 Session 5 Ethnic otherness II
(Chair: Juha Isotalo)
- Timothy C. Hart (UMass Amherst): ‘Build your own ‘Decline and Fall’: Creative Representations of the Late Antique World within the Crusader Kings III Modding Community’
- Cédrik Michel (Reading): ‘Video Game Developers and Ethnographers: Imagining the ‘Other’ in Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice (2017) and Hellblade II: Senua’s Saga (2024)’
- Maxime Kremer (Sorbonne): ‘From Ethnic Categories to Royal Lineages: Modelling Early Medieval Scotland in Historical Strategy Games’
16-16:30 Coffee
16:30-18 Session 6 Representations of the Byzantine Empire
(Chair: Prolet Decheva)
- Elias Stouraitis (Thrace): ‘Simulating Empire and Faith: Comparative Representations of Western Medieval Europe and Byzantium in Digital Strategy Games’
- Denis Njari (Osijek): ‘Playing Empire: The Representation of the Eastern Roman Empire in Civilization V’
- Maria Jokela (Turku): ‘Ἡ φίλη τοῦ Βυζαντίου – Theodora’s afterlife in Sid Meier’s Civilization V: Gods and Kings’
18-18:30 Concluding conversation
