Ancient Library
About us
We are Ivan and Luke. We run a Facebook page followed by around 1.9 million people, make a history podcast, and build this atlas.
Ancient Library started as a Facebook page in 2015. Ivan created it because he wanted one place to share the ancient sites, discoveries, images and questions he kept reading about. The page grew, then kept growing. Today, around 1.9 million people follow it.
We are still here for the same reason: we love history. Ivan and Luke now run the project together, make the podcast, and are building this atlas so the places we discuss can be explored on a map as well as in a feed.
01 / The community
Most readers still meet us on Facebook.
That is where we post every day. We share archaeological discoveries, old photographs, monuments, ruins, reconstructions and short histories. The comments often add local knowledge and lead us towards places we had not planned to cover.
An audience this large deserves accurate captions, credited images, and a clear line between evidence and speculation.
02 / Ivan & Luke
Created by Ivan. Now run by Ivan and Luke.
Ancient Library is an independent project made in Croatia. Most of the work is exactly as unglamorous as it sounds: reading, checking, writing, editing, finding a usable image, recording conversations, and opening far too many tabs.
Ivan Petričević
Founder, writer and editor
Ivan founded Ancient Library in 2015. He writes and edits the site's histories and leads the atlas, research and publishing work.
About IvanLuke
Co-host and collaborator
Luke runs Ancient Library with Ivan and co-hosts the podcast. He helps shape the conversations, subjects and direction of the project.
03 / The podcast
We make a podcast too.
The Ancient Library Podcast is hosted by Ivan and Luke. We invite archaeologists, researchers and authors to talk at a length that a social post cannot offer.
Our first guest was Egyptian archaeologist Dr. Zahi Hawass. Later conversations have taken us through Mesoamerica and other parts of the ancient world, with more episodes planned.
Watch the podcast on YouTube04 / The atlas
The atlas is the newest part of Ancient Library.
The website came next. We wanted to see how ancient places relate to the land around them, and to one another, rather than discussing each in isolation. Rivers, roads, coasts, mountains and neighbouring settlements often explain why a place existed at all.
Open a marker for the site's location, period, category and introduction. Finished entries continue into longer histories. Other markers remain concise records while we research and edit them.
The map includes famous monuments and places that rarely appear in popular histories. A small site with good evidence belongs here just as much as a landmark known around the world.
05 / Research
We say when the evidence runs out.
Site histories draw on excavation reports, published scholarship, museums and heritage bodies when those sources are available. Sources are listed so readers can check the evidence and continue for themselves.
Physical remains, inscriptions, secure dates and conclusions supported by strong evidence.
An interpretation that fits the evidence and is widely accepted, while leaving room for revision.
A date, purpose or claim for which serious competing readings remain.
History is full of gaps. We do not fill them by pretending a possibility is a fact. Legends and disputed theories belong in the discussion; they are labelled for what they are.
Choose where to start
The page, the podcast or the map.
Facebook is the daily conversation. The podcast is for longer ones. The atlas is where you can wander.