Looking Behind, Looking Ahead
By Owain Williams
Well, 2025 is over, and what a year it has been! I thought I would take this opportunity to, like Janus, look to past days and the days before us.
On the magazine front, we published some excellent issues:
- Travels with the Phoenicians - Makers of the Mediterranean
- Arteries of Empire - Rivers in the Ancient World
- Autocrats and Emperors - Tyranny in the Ancient World
- The Daily Grind - Labour in Antiquity
- Ancient Roman Religion - Myth Cults and Curses
And our issue on Magna Graecia will soon be out the door and on the way to you!
Issue 53, Travels with the Phoenicians, is a particular highlight of mine. When I first applied to be editor of Ancient History, I was tasked with submitting a plan for an issue of the magazine. Of course, I wanted to make a good impression, and I did not yet know the proper workings of the magazine nor how difficult finding relevant images can be, so my original plan was far grander than anything we could achieve — the whole breadth of Phoenician (and Punic) history was covered! Still, that leaves much to be explored in the future.
And we have some very interesting themes in the works for 2026! As I already said, Magna Graecia is nearly finished and on the way to you. In addition to Magna Graecia, we are also in the initial stages of production for issues on the First Intermediate Period of Egypt and hygiene in the ancient world. We have some more ideas for upcoming themes, such as city life across antiquity and different elements of Greek mythology, but these are still in the planning stage. Is there anything you would like to see in the magazine in 2026? Make sure you keep an eye on our Editorial Plan.
We also completed the second year of the Ancient History Podcast! Again, like the issue on the Phoenicians, this is something I brought up during my application for editor, so to see it going strong for two years is quite special.
All of the guests we had this year were great, and their books were really interesting. Some particular highlights of mine were:
Are there any topics or upcoming books you would like to see covered or people you would like to see interviewed on the podcast in 2026? I’ve got my eyes on a few.
We also started a new subscription — Ancient History Online! This is a great service that not only grants you access to the PDF version of the latest issue of Ancient History, but also lets you access our entire back catalogue. You can check out issues from so long ago that, to us, they're ancient history!
I hope you have all had a great 2025, and that you are as excited for 2026 as I am!
Cover image: Head of Janus (C) Giuseppe Savo / Wikimedia Commons