08/06/2026
We are still having some problems with our website, so here is the programme for Saturday, just in case you can't access it:
'Antiquity in Simulation: Global Receptions of the Classical World in Video Games'
-9:15 - 10:15: ‘Journeys to the West: Mediterranean Antiquity in Japanese Video Games’. Dr Dunstan Lowe (University of Kent). Chair: Alex MacFarlane (University of Birmingham)
-10:15 - 10:30 Break
-10:30 - 12:00 PANEL 1: Epic & Divinity. Chair: Edward Hammond (University of Bristol)
-10:30 - 11:00 ‘The Epic Turn: Scale, Transmediality, and Classicism in Online Gaming Culture’. Kevin Wong (Harvard University)
-11:00 - 11:30 ‘Creators & Controllers: Puppeting the Past in Raji: An Ancient Epic’. Sanjana Ramanathan (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor)
-11:30 - 12:00 ‘Gods of the Command System: Machinic Sovereignty and Divine Infrastructure in Fate/Grand Order’s Lostbelt No.5’. Mario Valori (University of Pisa)
-12:00 -12:15 ‘Future Directions in Antiquity Game Studies’. Dr Richard Cole (University of Bristol)
-12:15 - 13:30 Lunch
-13:30 - 14:30 PANEL 2 Environment. Chair: Sarah Marshall (University of Oxford)
-13:30 - 14:00 ‘Alea Iacta Est in Ash: Caesar’s Rubicon and Ecological Catastrophe in Armored Core VI’. Dr Jiawen Zhu (UCL)
-14:00 - 14:30 ‘Hyrule Histories: The Legend of Zelda’s Use of Graeco-Roman Architecture’. Margaret Daily (KCL)
-14:30 - 14:45 Break
-14:45 - 15:45 PANEL 3 Pocket Classics. Chair: Clare Chang (University of Oxford)
-14:45 - 15:15 ‘Philosophical Vesselisation: An Alternative Mode of Classical Reception in Honkai: Star Rail's Amphoreus Arc’. Haoran Jin/Existential XP (Independent)
-15:15 - 15:45 ‘Love stronger than the player’s affection: Circe, Europa, and Artemis in Fate/Grand Order’. Dr Maria Szafrańska-Chmielarz (University of Warsaw)
-15:45 - 16:00 Break
-16:00 - 17:00 ‘(Re)constructing Ancient Egypt in non-Western Video Games’. Dr Jennifer Cromwell (Manchester Metropolitan University). Chair: Dr Pantelis Michelakis (University of Oxford)
-17:00 onwards Drinks Reception