Classical Antiquity in Video Games

Christian Rollinger is Senior Lecturer in Ancient History at the University of Trier, Germany. He is co-editor of the online journal Thersites: Journal for Transcultural Presences & Diachronic Identities from Antiquity to Date.

• List of illustrations Glossary of video game terms Notes on Contributors Preface PROLOGUE Playing with the Ancient World: An Introduction to Classical Antiquity in Video Games 1. Christian Rollinger: An Archaeology of Ancient Historical Video Games PART I: A BRAVE OLD WORLD. RE-FIGURATIONS OF ANCIENT CULTURES 2. David Serrano Lozano: Ludus (not) Over: Video Games and Popular Perceptions of Ancient Past Re-Shaping 3. Andrew Gardner and Tristan French: Playing in a ‘Real’ Past: Classical Action Games and Authenticity4. Sian Beavers: The Representation of Women in Ryse: Son of RomePART II: A WORLD AT WAR. MARTIAL RE-PRESENTATIONS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD 5. Dominic Machado: Battle Narratives from Ancient Historiography to Total War: Rome II 6. Jeremiah McCall: Digital Legionaries: Video Game Simulations of the Face of Battle in the Roman Republic PART III: DIGITAL EPICS. ROLE-PLAYING IN THE ANCIENT WORLD7. Roger Travis: The Open-World RPG as Formulaic Epic 8. Ross Clare: Postcolonial Play in Ancient World Computer Role-playing Games9. Nico Nolden: Playing with an Ancient Veil: Commemorative Culture and the Staging of Ancient History within the Playful Experience of the MMORPG The Secret WorldPART IV: BUILDING AN ANCIENT WORLD. RE-IMAGINING ANTIQUITY10. Neville Morley: Choose your own Counterfactual: The Melian Dialogue as Text-Based Adventure11. Maciej Paprocki: Mortal Immortals: Deicide of Greek Gods in Apotheon and its Role in the Greek Mythic Storyworld 12. Alexander Flegler: The Complexities and Nuances of Portraying History in Age of Empires13. Erika Holter, Una Ulrike Schäfer, Sebastian Schwesinger: Simulating the Ancient World: Pitfalls and Opportunities of Using Game Engines for Archaeological ResearchEPILOGUE 14. Adam Chapman: Quo Vadis Classical Receptions and Historical Game Studies? Moving Two Fields Forward TogetherNotesBibliography Mediography Ludography Index

[This] is an interesting collection which will be an important reference for the growing number of works on gaming and classical reception in ancient history.