ABSTRACT
The study of Mediterranean antiquity and its traditional related disciplines (classics, egyptology, West Asian studies, classical archaeology, etc.) are no longer the sole domain of scholars hidden away within the ivory tower. Today, the ancient world is seemingly at our fingertips, available to us across a multitude of both virtual and physical spaces, including museums, archives, data repositories, 3D models, digital humanities projects, online courses, television, and social media; the enormity of this availability reflects the insatiable desire by various publics to consume information related to the ancient Mediterranean world. This omnipresent access to the ancient world has stemmed, in part, from a concerted effort by public scholars – including researchers, activists, hackers, communities, and creators alike – to make their work available to a wider audience by eliminating financial, institutional, and intellectual (i.e., copyright) barriers to access. 1 By removing such barriers and creating accessible avenues to engage with the ancient Mediterranean, public scholars are dismantling the structural inequities that have historically played a role in gatekeeping scholarly research from the general public. 2
