The 2nd Semantic Annotation for the Ancient World (SA4AW) conference took place at the University of Crete in Rethymno, Greece, on 7–8 May 2026, bringing together scholars, researchers, technologists, and students working at the intersection of semantic annotation, AI, and ancient world studies.

The conference focused on the role of semantic annotation in dialogue with hybrid AI approaches, large language models, deep learning, and knowledge graphs in the study of the ancient world and cultural heritage. Across sixteen contributions, participants explored methods, tools, case studies, and collaborative approaches related to ontology-driven annotation, multilingual corpora, Named Entity Recognition for Ancient Greek and Latin, Linked Open Data infrastructures, computational philology, and human-in-the-loop AI workflows.

The programme featured keynote lectures by Annie K. Lamar (Santa Barbara, USA) and Terhi Nurmikko-Fuller (RMIT, Australia), as well as a dedicated student poster session presenting work from the MA in Classics and the Short Program/Diploma in Digital Humanities. Discussions throughout the conference highlighted both the potential and the limits of AI technologies in historically complex and incomplete datasets, while reaffirming the importance of expert knowledge, interpretability, and open research practices.

SA4AW 2026 was organised by Maria Papadopoulou and Rachel Milio within the framework of the Horizon Europe ERA Chair project TALOS AI4SSH. The conference further strengthened international collaborations in semantic technologies, digital philology, knowledge graphs, and AI-supported cultural heritage research. The proceedings will appear in a forthcoming peer-reviewed open-access edited volume.