CFP: Association of Ancient Historians Meeting 2026: Iowa City

Ancient Exchanges in a Global Antiquity

The 2026 AAH Annual Meeting will take place in person at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, IA from April 16-18, 2026. We invite abstracts for papers of 15-20 minutes in length. Please submit anonymous abstracts to one of the panels below of no more than 500 words to the AAH 2026 Form. The deadline for abstract submission is December 1, 2025. Additional information may be found at aah.conference.uiowa.edu. Please direct any inquiries to the conference organizers at Sarah-Bond@uiowa.edu  

Keynote Speakers: Michael Kulikowski (History and Classics, Penn State University), Carolina López-Ruiz (Classics, University of Chicago) 

Erasure and Inclusion: Who Owned the Ancient Past?

People in the ancient world, much like people today, fought over how to understand their own history. These conflicts could take the form of more-or-less formalized memory sanction, selective recording of events, or deceptive public-facing narratives. Modern scholars thus face multiple constraints as they grapple with the ancient sources; we engage with evidence that emerged from a curated historiographical process, while also operating under our own disciplinary and political pressures. These pressures operate(d) asymmetrically across various axes of social belonging, with the result that our historical narratives erase or misrepresent people who were themselves erased and marginalized in their own time. This panel aims to bring discussions of modern and ancient “history management” together. We welcome discussions of various forms of selective commemoration, in both past and present contexts, with a particular focus on restoring lost voices or generating more accurate accounts of the historical past.

Alexander the Great, Hellenistic History, and Ancient Exchanges  

Over 30 years after former Iowa professor Peter Green’s Alexander to Actium, this panel looks at new research and understandings of the Ancient Near East, Indian Ocean, and Silk Roads during the period between 356 BCE and 31 BCE. Papers need not discuss Alexander the Great or the Hellenistic kingdoms, but they will need to address events, ideas, or peoples during this time period. Of particular interest is the extent and growth in trade networks in the Ancient Near East and Indian Ocean region, Hellenistic seafaring, and interactions with the Silk Road and China during this time. How can new archaeological discoveries, shifts in scholarly focus, and the application of digital humanities methods help us to better understand a period that often remains a “gap,” as Green called it. In what ways might better understanding of this period help us to engage with a global antiquity? 

Ancient Slavery and Unfreedom 

The study of slavery within the ancient Mediterranean has grown substantially in the last two decades, particularly with the increased interest in enslavement studies within the fields of early Christianity and Late Antiquity. This panel welcomes papers on all forms of ancient slavery and unfreedom within a global antiquity from the Bronze Age to Late Antiquity. Of particular interest are the ways in which comparative slavery studies can augment and inform our understanding of the lived experience of slavery in antiquity. How might we incorporate the work being done in religious studies, archaeology, and Transatlantic studies—among many others—as a way of better reconstructing the economic, social, political, and religious aspects of servitude in the ancient world? 

The Bible and Ancient History 

There has always been a modern tension between scholars within biblical studies and those who consider themselves ancient historians. While many scholars of the Hebrew Bible and New Testament reside in Religious Studies or Theology departments, most ancient historians are within Classics and History departments. This panel seeks to break down the walls between these disciplines and discuss the ways in which biblical and classical texts are being newly analyzed to better understand the historical record and persons therein. How are ancient historians, historical geographers, archaeologists, and anthropologists contributing to understandings of ancient religions and vice versa. How can we reconcile the methodological, epistemological, and even philosophical differences in our fields? We welcome new research that brings these two important fields closer together in conversation and dialogue. 

Connecting a Global Antiquity through Translation 

The University of Iowa is home to the journal Ancient Exchanges. In the spirit of this important publication, which focuses on the translation of ancient texts in a global context, this panel looks at the contributions of translation to the discipline of ancient history. We welcome papers that discuss how differences in translation have changed our historical understandings, how updates of translations have changed the field (e.g. Emily Wilson’s translation of The Iliad and The Odyssey), reception papers that look at the changing translation of historical texts and how they reflect the time period, and other papers that address the art of translation and its relationship to ancient history. 

Exchanges and Movement on Ancient and Early Medieval Frontiers 

Migration and movement are two important issues in the world today, but they were important issues in the ancient world as well. This panel requests submissions that discuss the legislation, ideologies, and geographic understanding of migration in a global antiquity. For example, how were refugees and migratory peoples treated within ancient societies? What was the perception and impact of mass migration? How have these issues been weaponized in the present? This panel underscores the significance of understanding ancient movement, exchange, and cultural differences in its ancient context, but also desires to look at the ways in which these issues have also been mobilized within the political climate of the present.  

Environmental and Medical History (1200 BCE-800 CE) 

Ancient medical histories and environmental histories are important parts of ancient history as a whole. Whether looking at ice cores for signs of climatological change or examining the Antonine Plague, both of these fields are changing the way we see the past through the use of scientific data. This panel asks for papers with new and innovative research in these two fields. How are innovations in the understanding of the ancient climate and various environmental events helping us to better reconstruct human and animal experiences? In what ways do environmental and medical histories intersect?