The International Congresses of Classical Archaeology constitute the world’s most important forum for the archaeology of ancient Mediterranean cultures. However, they are also open to all adjacent disciplines that deal with Greco-Roman Antiquity from the Aegean Bronze Age to the end of Late Antiquity, and with the neighbouring cultures that were influenced by these (for example, Ancient History, Architectural History, Papyrology, Numismatics etc.). They have a history extending back a good 100 years, since the first congress was held in Athens in 1905. Since that time the congresses have been conducted almost uninterruptedly, in a 5-year cycle and alternating host cities in Europe, the Mediterranean region and the USA.

Following the caesura of the Second World War, the Associazione Internazionale di Archeologia Classica (AIAC), based in Rome, took on the congress’s patronage and co-ordination. The AIAC was founded in Rome on 5 May 1945, with the aim of re-enlivening, after catastrophic Second World War, the intensive international collaboration among the global archaeological research community which reached back to the start of the 19th century. It was also by courtesy of the AIAC that the world’s biggest archaeological research library, of the German Archaeological Institute (DAI) Rome, survived the post-war turmoil and was restored to the DAI in Rome in 1953. To this day, the AIAC is the sole international lobby for Classical Archaeology, with the primary aim of promoting research and information exchange across national and disciplinary boundaries. Numerous individual researchers and institutions throughout the world are members. All archaeological research institutes in Rome are represented on the steering committee, including the British School at Rome, the Deutsche Archäologische Institut Rom, the École Française de Rome, the American Academy of Rome and many others.

The International Congresses of Classical Archaeology primarily serve the intra-disciplinary exchange of new research findings and methodological approaches. However, current issues and research focuses are also integrated in their overriding themes. On a regular basis, the congresses set major stimuli and trajectories for continued research on the ancient world.