Dear all,

Edinburgh University Press welcomes all of those who are interested in the reception of the
ancient world in popular culture to contribute with abstract proposals for an upcoming
volume regarding the reception of antiquity in music videos.
We invite submissions regarding Roman, Mesopotamian and Biblical Antiquity. Please
see below for the details of the CFP and a YouTube playlist with which contributors may
formalize a corpus for an abstract. Proposals are due 15 November 2025.

We are currently preparing a collective volume (Reception of Antiquity in Music Videos) with
Edinburgh University Press, edited by Sílvia Catarina Pereira Diogo (ARTIS-IHA, University
of Lisbon), Joana Salvador Pinto Costa (CH, University of Lisbon), Maria de Fátima Rosa
(CH, University of Lisbon) and Nuno Simões Rodrigues (CH/CEC, University of Lisbon).
The book already fuses together original and pioneering contributions under the aegis of
Egypt and Greece, with paper chapters ranging from mythology, religion, identity and gender
culture to semiology, media specificity, music video ontology, etc. We have however noticed
areas that deserve further exploration, particularly Ancient Rome, Ancient Mesopotamia
and Biblical Antiquity. To explore these dimensions, we are adding three new sections to
the book:

• Chapter III: Ancient Rome in Music Videos
• Chapter IV: Ancient Mesopotamia in Music Videos
• Chapter V: Biblical Antiquity in Music Videos
  As such, we invite abstracts of roughly 300 words for papers (6500 words maximum
  including bibliography) exploring the reception of the ancient world in the following areas and
  topoi (from which you may take inspiration or follow at heart):
• Ancient Roman visual imagery in Music Videos: myths, aesthetics, religion
• Ancient Rome and Heavy Metal portrayals
• Shaping Ancient Mesopotamian imagery in music Videos: Babylon, the Hammurabi
  code, Semiramis, and pertinent topoi.
• Biblical Antiquity and the outstanding video performances of Lil Nas X, Lady Gaga,
  Beyoncé, Sevdaliza, Nirvana, etc.
• Revamping Paradise: Biblical lore in Ashnikko, Papooz, Panic at the Disco!, The
  Darkness, Metallica, etc.
• Re-gendering God as a Woman: Ariana Grande, Halsey, Falling in Reverse,
  Sevdaliza, etc.
  Please consult this YouTube playlist for reference and the CFP poster for
  visual context and accessibility.

Abstracts of 300 words should be sent to antiquityinmusicvideos@gmail.com and are due by
no later than November 15th, 2025.