It seems odd that Antiquity should have twice played a key role in the development of such a modern form of entertainment as cinema. Yet films set in biblical times, as well as the ancient civilisations of Egypt, Greece and Rome prompted the switch to feature films in the early 1910s and introduced the concept of the blockbuster with the widescreen epics that Hollywood produced in the 1950s in a bid to lure people back into movie theatres and away from the new television sets in their living rooms. In its latest Brief History, Cinema Paradiso looks back at the depiction of the classical world on the silver screen.
As the moving image approaches its 125th anniversary, it's easy to forget how quickly a fairground novelty evolved into a sophisticated art form. The earliest films with an ancient setting lasted for a few minutes and were photographed against painted or stage-style backdrops. Inspired by the popularity of the historical reconstructions and literary adaptations produced in France in the film d'art tradition, the Cines company began to exploit Italy's rich heritage to make complex narratives that ran over multiple reels at a time when film audiences were believed to have a short attention span.
Arturo Ambrosio and Luigi Maggi's The Last Days of Pompeii (1908) lasted six reels, while Ernesto Pasquali's 1913 remake extended to 10. Even more imposing was Enrico Guazzoni's Quo Vadis? (1912), which was filmed on the biggest sets seen on screen and required 5000 extras for the action sequences that sprawled over two hours. Set during the Second Punic War, Giovanni Pastrone's 12-reel Cabiria (1914) made the Italian super spectacle a global phenomenon and had such an impact on American pioneer DW Griffith that he sought to top it with the Babylonian segment of Intolerance (1916).
By the time Italian directors returned to their classical roots in the late 1950s, the blockbuster had been appropriated by Hollywood, as the studios sought to use colour, stereophonic sound and wide screens to arrest declining postwar box-office takings. Despite neo-realism having an incalculable influence on film-making worldwide, it had never gone down well with Italian audiences, who welcomed the revival of the ancient epic with Pietro Francisci's Hercules (1958), which starred American bodybuilder, Steve Reeves. Along with fellow imports Reg Park, Gordon Scott and Gordon Mitchell, as well as homegrown talents like gondolier Adriano Bellini (who used the name Kirk Morris), Reeves became a pivotal figure in the rise of the Peplum or 'Sword and Sandal' genre into the 1960s.
Blooding such frontline film-makers as Riccardo Freda, Sergio Leone, Mario Bava and Antonio Margheriti, these adventures set in Ancient Rome and elsewhere were made on modest budgets. Yet, the series featuring such brawny heroes as Hercules, Goliath, Ursus, Samson and Maciste proved enduringly popular with audiences across Europe and the Americas. Indeed, several countries produced their own mythological movies based on the Italian models and the exchange of ideas between these pictures and comic-books was to prove crucial to the emergence of the superhero franchises that currently dominate Hollywood cinema. It's a shame that so few of these titles are available on disc in the UK, but Cinema Paradiso still has plenty to entertain classical scholars and casual thrill-seekers alike.
God's Own Truth
The best place to start is with John Huston's The Bible: In the Beginning... (1966), which harks back to the Book of Genesis and the period 4004-1677 BC to feature Michael Parks and Ulla Bergryd as Adam and Eve, the director himself cameoing as Noah and George C. Scott as Abraham. Continuing on where this epic left off, Roma Downey and Mark Burnett's The Bible: The Epic Miniseries (2013) goes through to the New Testament in its 10 compelling episodes.
Although many see special effects as central to the recreation of myth and history, detailed research is also essential to ensure that the storylines remain plausible in the absence of extensive fact. Take Darren Aronofsky's Noah (2014), which saw the director and co-scenarist Ari Handel supplement information from the Old Testament with passages from the apocalyptic text, the Book of Enoch, so that Russell Crowe's voyage aboard the Ark would be even more adventuresome. Similarly suggesting that spectacle isn't everything when it comes to fabulous sagas, John Irvin creditably recreates the Flood with modest resources in Noah's Ark (1999), which teams Jon Voight and Mary Steenburgen as Noah and Naamah. The tale was also animated for children by Juan Pablo Buscarini as Noah's Ark (2007).
There's more colourful cartooning in Richard Rich's Abraham and Isaac (1992), which recalls the supreme test to which God subjected his most devoted follower and his only son. However, the story of the Father of Faiths is outlined with much more gravitas in Joseph Sargent's Abraham (1994), which casts Richard Harris in the title role, alongside Barbara Hershey as Sara, Taylor Scipio as Isaac and Maximilien Schell as Pharaoh.
Moving through Genesis, Peter Hall's Jacob (1994) traces the rivalry between siblings Jacob (Matthew Modine) and Esau (Sean Bean) and the former's bid to defy his callous uncle, Laban (Joss Ackland), and romance his cousin, Rachel (Lara Flynn Boyle). Having retold the story of Moses (Val Kilmer) and Rameses (Ralph Fiennes) in Simon Wells, Brenda Chapman and Steve Hickner's The Prince of Egypt (1998), the DreamWorks animation department turned to the equally familiar saga of Joseph (Ben Affleck) and his gift for predicting the future in Rob LaDuca and Robert C. Ramirez's Joseph: King of Dreams (2000). Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber put an even more memorable musical spin on the tale of Jacob's sons in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (1999), which captures Donny Osmond's London Palladium performance in the title role.
Paul Mercurio took over the prognosticating duties in Roger Young's Joseph, which co-starred Ben Kingsley and Lesley Anne Warren as Potiphar and his flirtatious wife. However, Kingsley assumed the lead in the same director's Moses (both 1995), which co-stars Christopher Lee as the Pharaoh Rameses. The 19th Dynasty also provides the setting for one of the most ambitious ancient epics, Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments (1956), the making of which is recalled in an intriguing 2003 documentary by Todd Sokolove. Yul Brynner and Charlton Heston face off as Rameses II and Moses, although their thunder is rather stolen by the Oscar-winning special effects devised by John P. Fulton. Dougray Scott and Paul Rhys assumed the mantles in Robert Dornhelm's Ten Commandments (2006) before they passed to Christian Bale and Joel Edgerton in Ridley Scott's Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014). The characters were also voiced by Christian Slater and Alfred Molina in Bill Boyce and John Stronach's CGI retelling, The Ten Commandments (2007), which is narrated by Ben Kingsley.
Always one for a bit of sin and spectacle, Cecil B. DeMille revelled in the excesses of Antiquity, as he demonstrates with Samson and Delilah (1949), in which Victor Mature plays the strongman from the Book of Judges, who is undone when Hedy Lamarr discovers the secret of his flowing locks. The tragic tale was retold by Nicolas Roeg, with Eric Thai and Elizabeth Hurley in the leads and Dennis Hopper as a Philistine general, in Samson and Delilah (1996), while Taylor James and Caitlin Leahy stepped up to the mark in Bruce MacDonald and Gabriel Sabloff's Samson (2018).
The well-known mismatch between a hulking warrior and a boy with a slingshot has been revisited on several occasions, with Orson Welles directing his own scenes as King Saul in Ferdinando Baldi and Richard Pottier's The Story of David (1960). Following Richard Rich's 1995 animation, David and Goliath, Nathaniel Parker and Giorgio Francesco Palombi embodied the parts in Robert Markowitz's David (1997) and they were succeeded by Matt Berberi and Michael Wayne Foster in Wallace Brothers's David and Goliath (2016). Despite his youthful heroics, the King of the Israelites blots his copybook in Henry King's David and Bathsheba (1951) when David (Gregory Peck) allows his passion for Bathsheba (Susan Hayward) to cause him to sin by sending her husband, Uriah (Kieron Moore), to certain death at the battlefront.
His son acquired a reputation for wisdom. But he allows his heart to rule his head in King Vidor's Solomon and Sheba (1959), as the King of Israel (Yul Brynner) competes for the affections of the Queen of Sheba (Gina Lollobrigida) with the Egyptian pharaoh, Adonijah (George Sanders). Strong women abound in the Old Testament and Louise Lombard takes the lead in Raffaele Mertes's Esther (1999), as the adopted daughter of Mordechai (F. Murray Abraham), who is ordered to present herself before the Persian king, Xerxes (Thomas Kretschmann), after he banishes his proud wife, Vashti (Ornella Muti), from his court.
Sands of Time
Curiously, Ancient Egypt doesn't feature heavily in the national cinema, perhaps because of the limited resources available to film-makers, even during the golden age of the 1930s and 40s. The titles available to rent from Cinema Paradiso all come from outside the Arab world, with a little mythology going a long way in Alex Proyas's Gods of Egypt (2016), as a mortal named Bek (Brenton Thwaites) forges a celestial alliance with the exiled god of air, Horus (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), to prevent rival deity Set (Gerard Butler) from plunging the world into darkness.
The same period is explored with more fidelity in David von Ancken's Tut (2015), in which Vizier Ay (Ben Kingsley) attempts to keep boy-king Tutankhamun (Avan Jogia) on the throne in the face of incessant court intrigue. There are flashbacks to this reign in Ferdinand Fairfax's BBC serial, Egypt (2005), which recalls how the treasures of Ancient Egypt were discovered by archaeologists like Howard Carter (Stuart Graham).
Pole Jerzy Kawalerowicz chose the 20th Dynasty as the setting for Pharaoh (1966), an allegorical adaptation of a novel by Boleslaw Prus that centres on the trials of the fictitious Rameses XIII (Jerzy Zelnik), as he strives to reform a declining country in the face of protests by a conservative priesthood. When he fails, the High Priest Herhor (Piotr Pawlowski) assumes power and runs into similar difficulties.
The last Ptolemaic ruler of Egypt has attracted attention from film-makers since the earliest flickerings. Although Claudette Colbert was in the spotlight in Cecil B. DeMille's Cleopatra (1934), as she delighted in toying with both Caesar (Warren William) and Mark Antony (Henry Wilcoxon), the real stars of this saucy Pre-Code romp were Paramount art directors Hans Dreier and Roland Anderson and costumier Vicky Williams. The off-screen shenanigans proved more intriguing to audiences in 1963 that the canoodlings between Elizabeth Taylor, Rex Harrison and Richard Burton in Joseph L. Mankiewicz's Cleopatra. Yet, while this notorious picture almost bankrupted 20th Century-Fox, it still contains moments of jaw-dropping spectacle, none more so that Cleopatra's lavish entry into Rome, which helped win production designers John DeCuir and Jack Martin Smith, costumier Irene Sharaff and cinematographer Leon Shamroy their Academy Awards.
Shakespeare's take on one of the Ancient World's great love affairs was filmed by Trevor Nunn, with Richard Johnson and Janet Suzman taking the title roles in Antony and Cleopatra (1974). This followed on from a much racier affair, Osamu Tezuka and Eiichi Yamamoto's Cleopatra (1970), an early adult-targeted anime that sees Jiro, Harvey and Mary uncover an alien plot to conquer Earth and use a time machine to travel back to the court of the fabled queen. But their mission is jeopardised when Harvey sets his sights on sleeping with the most beautiful woman in history.
Timothy Dalton and Lynn Redgrave returned to more traditional Bardic territory in Lawrence Carra's Anthony and Cleopatra (1983), which makes for a fascinating comparison with Gabriel Pascal's adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra (1945), which teamed Claude Rains and Vivien Leigh. Even though it's set in Rome, we should also mention another Shavian tale at this juncture, Chester Erskine's Androcles and the Lion (1952), which is set in the reign of Antoninus (Maurice Evans) and reveals the charming way in which a slave (Alan Young) manages to save his fellow Christians in the arena.
Lots of films about The Mummy link back to Ancient Egypt as part of their backstory. Such was the popularity of the Stephen Somers trilogy comprising The Mummy (1999), The Mummy Returns (2001) and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008) that a prequel pentalogy was launched, Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson took the role of Mathayus in Chuck Russell's The Scorpion King (2002) before Michael Copon took over for Russell Mulcahy's The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior (2002). It was all change again in Roel Reine's The Scorpion King 3: Battle for Redemption (2012), which starred Victor Webster, who clung on for Mike Elliott's The Scorpion King 4: Quest for Power (2015) before being replaced by Zach McGowan in Don Michael Paul's The Scorpion King: Book of Souls (2018).
But we're not quite done with Egypt, as the destruction of the Library of Alexandria in AD 391 is recalled in Alejandro Amenábar's Agora (2009), which stars Rachel Weisz as Hypatia, a philosopher, mathematician and astronomer who tries to protect the building's priceless treasures with the help of her slave, Davus (Max Minghella), and her devoted student, Orestes (Oscar Isaac).
It's All Greek
One of the great joys of films set in these bygone, if at all days, is the chance to marvel at the special effects created by the great Ray Harryhausen. He's on peak form in Desmond Davis's Clash of the Titans (1981), as he threatens Perseus (Harry Hamlin) with Medusa, the Kraken and the two-headed dog, Dioskilos, in his bid to rescue Andromeda (Judi Bowker) from the furious goddess, Thetis (Maggie Smith). Can anyone honestly say they prefer the CGI SFX in Louis Leterrier's 3D Clash of the Titans (2010), which sees Perseus (Sam Worthington) strive to prevent Hades (Ralph Fiennes) from unseating his father, Zeus (Liam Neeson) ? Despite being nominated for Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-off or Sequel and Worst Eye-Gouging Misuse of 3D at the Razzies, the picture's commercial success ensured a sequel duly followed, Jonathan Liebesman's Wrath of the Titans (2012), in which the demigod has to leave Andromeda (Rosamund Pike) in order to venture into the Underworld after Hades allies with Kronis to abduct Zeus.
At some point during the Minoan Bronze Age, Theo (Tom Hardy) defies the warnings of his father, Cyman (Rutger Hauer), and goes in search of the eponymous deity in Jonathan English's creature feature, Minotaur (2006), which has the head and tail of a bull and the body of a man. Remaining in the same vicinity, but very different in tone, Tony Mitchell's Atlantis: End of a World, Birth of a Legend (2011) is a docudramatic account of the volcanic eruption in the Aegean Sea in 1600 BC that resulted in the destruction of the Minoan civilisation on the island of Crete.
Writers John Twist and Hugh Gray draw on Homer's epic poems, The Iliad and The Odyssey, for Robert Wise's Helen of Troy (1956), a lavish account of the Trojan Wars that stars Rossana Podestà and Jacques Sernas as Helen and Paris, Cedric Hardwicke as King Priam and Stanley Baker as Achilles, There's also an early role for Brigitte Bardot as Andraste. The events were brought cinematically up to date by Wolfgang Petersen in Troy (2004), which lures Brad Pitt back to 1250 BC to play Achilles opposite Orlando Bloom's Paris, Diane Kruger's Helen and Eric Bana's Hector. The same events inform Mark Brozel, Owen Harris and John Strickland's Troy: Fall of a City (2018), as Agamemnon, (Johnny Harris) lays siege to Troy after Paris (Louis Hunter) abducts Queen Helen (Bella Dayne) while visiting the Spartan king, Menelaus (Jonas Armstrong).
Using the Latin name for Odysseus, Mario Camerini's Ulysses (1954) casts Kirk Douglas as the warrior yearning for a reunion with Penelope (Silvana Mangano). Armand Assante headlines Andrei Konchalovsky's three-hour tele-adaptation of The Odyssey (1997), alongside Greta Scacchi as Penelope, Isabella Rossellini as Athena and Bernadette Peters as Circe. Tekin Gerkin's Troy: The Odyssey (2017) opens at the end of the war and chronicles the 10-year voyage of Odysseus (Dylan Vox) to return to his wife, Penelope (Kelly B. Jones), who is struggling to defend the throne of Ithaca from ambitious knaves.
There's a hint of Cold War commentary in Rudolph Maté's The 300 Spartans (1962), an account of the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC, which saw King Leonidas (Richard Egan) lead a heroic rearguard against the Persian ruler, Xerxes (David Farrar). A graphic novel by Frank Miller provides the impetus for Zack Snyder's 300 (2007), which blends CGI animation and live-action to recreate the tussle between Leonidas (Gerard Butler) and Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro). The latter reprises his role in Noam Murro's 300: Rise of an Empire (2014), which focuses on the Battle of Salamis and the showdown between Themistokles (Sullivan Stapleton) and the commander of the Persian navy, Artemisia (Eva Green).
The Sword and Sandal vogue was launched when Steve Reeves took the title role in Pietro Francisco's aforementioned Hercules, which was the first of 19 entries in a cycle that also saw the primitive superhero played by Gordon Scott, Kirk Morris, Mickey Hargitay, Mark Forest, Alan Steel, Dan Vadis, Brad Harris, Reg Park, Peter Lupus (billed as Rock Stevens) and Michael Lane.
Fresh from his stint as the Hulk, Lou Ferrigno landed the lead in Lewis Coates's Hercules (1983), in which the demi-god allies with the sorceress Circe (Mirella D'Angelo) to rescue Cassiopeia (Ingrid Anderson) from King Minos (William Berger). In the sequel, Luigi Cozzi's The Adventures of Hercules II (1985), Hercules is dispatched by Zeus (Claudio Cassinelli) to find his seven thunderbolts and return them to Mount Olympus.
When Disney ventured into Antiquity with Ron Clements and John Musker's Hercules (1997), the son of Zeus (Rip Torn) and Hera (Samantha Eggar) is stripped of his divinity and has to join forces with Philoctetes (Danny DeVito) and Meg (Susan Egan) to prove his worth.
The small screen had also hosted Kevin Sorbo's series, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (1995-99). But Hercules hasn't always been front and centre. As played by Nigel Green, he's merely a member of the crew in Don Chaffey's Jason and the Argonauts (1963), as Jason (Todd Armstrong) travels to Colchis to find the Golden Fleece and do battle with the Hydra and skeleton army fashioned by Ray Harryhausen. The same is true for Brian Thompson, as Jason London commands The Argo in Nick Willing's miniseries, Jason and the Argonauts (2000), while in Tarsem Singh's The Immortals (2011), Hercules (Steve Byers) is kept very much in the shadow of Theseus (Henry Cavill), who is chosen by Zeus (Luke Evans) to stop the rampaging King Hyperion (Mickey Rourke) in his tracks.
Giuseppe Gentile plays Jason in Pier Paolo Pasolini's Medea (1969), which draws on the writings of Euripides to show how the eponymous sorceress (Maria Callas) falls foul of King Cresus (Massimo Girotti) and seeks her revenge when he casts her from the kingdom. This was the Italian's second picture inspired by Greek legend after Oedipus Rex (1967), which shifts between time frames to follow Oedipus (Franco Citti), as he flees Corinth after being warned by the Oracle that he will kill his father and marry his mother. However. King Polybus (Ahmed Belhachmi) and Queen Merope (Alida Valli) are only his adoptive parents and trouble looms when he helps Laius (Luciano Bartoli) in Thebes and is rewarded with a new bride, Jocasta (Silvana Mangano).
As the title presupposes, Hercules is very much to the fore once more in Roger Young's Hercules (2005), as Paul Telfer attempts to perform the 12 Labours that will restore him to favour on Olympus. Indeed, such is the character's enduring appeal that he appeared in three movies in 2014 alone. In Renny Harlin's The Legend of Hercules, Kellan Lutz rises to the challenges he faces after his stepfather, King Amphitryon (Scott Adkins), sells him into slavery. Dwayne Johnson provides an equally muscular reading in Brett Ratner's Hercules, an adaptation of a graphic novel by Steve Moore that sees the eponymous hunk lead his band of mercenaries against the warlord Rhesus (Tobias Santelmann) at the behest of the King of Thrace (John Hurt). Finally, John Hennigan (aka WWE wrestler John Morrison) also gets to flex his muscles in Nick Lyon's Hercules Reborn, when he recovers his sense of purpose after a period of shameful banishment to help Arias (Christian Oliver) rescue Princess Theodora of Thebes (Christina Ulfsparre) from the scheming General Nikos (Dylan Vox).
Moving away from fiction to fact, many consider the son of Philip of Macedon to be the most lauded leader in Ancient Greek history. Richard Burton bestrode Robert Rossen's Alexander the Great (1956) with suitable swagger, alongside Fredric March as his father and Barry Jones as his tutor, Aristotle. Having been mentored by Val Kilmer, Christopher Plummer and Anthony Hopkins (as Ptolemy), the hero of Oliver Stone's Alexander (2004) grows into a pugnacious Colin Farrell, who is driven as much by the ambitions of his mother, Olympias (Angelina Jolie), as by his own desire to rule the world.
All Roads Lead to Rome
Julie Taymor's Titus (1999) sees Titus Andronicus (Anthony Hopkins) return home after a crushing victory over the Goths and execute the son of his prisoner, Tamora (Jessica Lange). However, when she marries the corrupt Saturninus (Alan Cumming) and he becomes emperor, Titus acquires a powerful enemy seeking her revenge.
Harking back to earlier times, Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia and Edgar G. Ulmer's Hannibal (1959) left Victor Mature looking a tad too old to play the 26 year-old Carthaginian general who, during the Second Punic War (218-02 BC), marched 1500 miles with 40,000 troops and 37 elephants to take on the might of Rome. He was played with a Game of Thrones bullishness by Alexander Siddig in Edward Bazalgette's Hannibal (2006). The sack of Rome by Carthage in 146 BC provides the starting point for the BBC miniseries, Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire (2006), which charts the emergence of the first global superpower through the actions of such leaders as Julius Caesar (Sean Pertwee), Nero (Michael Sheen) and Constantine (David Threlfall).
Thanks to films like Stuart Burge's Julius Caesar (1970), we're all familiar with the spin that William Shakespeare put on the murder of the Roman Republic's most infamous dictator perpetuo. But Uli Edel examines the harder historical facts in the miniseries, Julius Caesar (2002), which stars Jeremy Sisto as the populist crowd-pleaser alongside Richard Harris as Sulla, Christopher Walken as Cato and Valeria Golino as Calpurnia. Another small screen production, Rome (2005-07), which numbers John Milius among its creators, examines the deeds of Julius Ceasar (Ciaran Hinds) through the eyes of two foot soldiers, Lucius Vorenus (Kevin McKidd) and Titus Pullo (Ray Stevenson).
The Third Servile War (73-71 BC) has provided plenty of cinematic inspiration since Riccardo Freda directed Massimo Girotti as Spartacus in Sins of Rome (1953). Obviously, the standout recreation is Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of Howard Fast's novel, Spartacus (1960), with Kirk Douglas as the slave leading the revolt against General Crassus (Laurence Olivier). However, the story has since been reworked, with Goran Visnjic squaring up to Angus MacFadyen in Robert Dornhelm's Spartacus (2004) and Anthony Flanagan and Robert Glenister doing likewise in Tim Dunn's 2008 film of the same name. There have also been TV spin-offs, like Spartacus: Blood and Sand (2010-13), with Andy Whitfield passing the title role to Liam McIntyre after the first season, and Spartacus: Gods of the Arena (2011). Inspired by the defiance of Spartacus, Bodicia (Margaret Markov) and Mamawi (Pam Grier) rebel against the Romans training them to fight to the death after they are abducted from the town of Brundisium and sold into slavery in Steve Carver's The Arena (1974).
Sadly, Josef von Sternberg never got to complete his adaptation of Robert Graves's I, Claudius (1937), with Charles Laughton in the lead. But the BBC produced two fine series covering much the same territory, The Caesars (1968) and I Claudius (1976). Made in black and white, the former centres on the reigns of Augustus (Roland Culver), Tiberius (André Morell), Caligula (Ralph Bates) and Nero (Martin Potter). Freddie Jones played Claudius in all six episodes, but he was upstaged by the BAFTA-winning Derek Jacobi in Herbert Wise's impeccable serial, which co-starred Brian Blessed as Augustus, George Baker as Tiberius, John Hurt as Caligula, Christopher Biggins as Nero and Sian Phillips, who also won a BAFTA for her performance as Livia.
The life of Jesus Christ has been retold many times on screen, with the lead being taken by HB Warner in Cecil B. DeMille's The King of Kings (1927), Jeffrey Hunter in Nicholas Ray's King of Kings (1961), Max von Sydow in George Stevens's The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965), Robert Powell in Franco Zeffirelli's Jesus of Nazareth (1978), Willem Dafoe in Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), Jim Caviezel in Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ (2003) and Adam Greaves-Neal in Cyrus Nowrasteh's The Young Messiah (2016). But the early years of the Christian Church have also inspired a number of high-profile features, with Lew Wallace's 1880 novel, Ben-Hur, being filmed on numerous occasions since MGM cast Roman Novarro in Fred Niblo's 1925 silent version. Charlton Heston followed up winning Best Actor in William Wyler's 11-time Oscar-winning 1959 adaptation by voicing the role of the wealthy Hebrew prince who becomes a Roman galley slave and a charioteer in William R. Kowalchuk, Jr.'s 2003 animation. The role has since passed to Joseph Morgan in Steve Shill's 2010 miniseries and Jack Huston and Jonno Davies in the contrasting 2016 takes respectively directed by Timur Bekmambetov and Mark Atkins.
The career of the rebel whose release the crowd demanded from Pontius Pilate instead of Jesus was chronicled by Richard Fleischer in Barabbas (1961), which stars the versatile and underrated Anthony Quinn. Billy Zane took over for Roger Young's 2012 remake of the same name. The aftermath of the Crucifixion supervised by Roman tribune Marcellus Gallo (Richard Burton) is recalled in Henry Koster's The Robe (1953), which had the distinction of being the first feature to be released in CinemaScope. Indeed, such was its success that Victor Mature got to reprise his role in Delmer Daves's Demetrius and the Gladiators (1954), which was one of the many Roman epics produced by Hollywood in this period to show off the new widescreen technology and lure audiences away from their tiny black-and-white TVs.
Cast very much in the same mould is Victor Saville's The Silver Chalice (1954), which afforded Paul Newman his screen debut as Basil, a sculptor who is commissioned to make a container to protect the Holy Grail. More recently, Roman tribune Clavius (Joseph Fiennes) and his aide, Lucius (Tom Felton), are ordered to investigate the mystery of the empty tomb after the Resurrection of Jesus (Cliff Curtis) in Kevin Reynolds's Risen (2016).
The first 10 chapters of the Acts of the Apostles are the source of the action in the 12-part series, A.D. Kingdom and Empire (2015), which features Adam Levy and Emmett J. Scanlon as Peter and Saul. Cecil B. DeMille had covered similar territory in The Sign of the Cross (1932), a celebrated piece of Pre-Code cinema that really ought to be available on disc for its depiction of Rome under Nero (Charles Laughton). However, the excesses of this decadent period are amply covered in Mervyn LeRoy's Quo Vadis (1951), with Peter Ustinov being Oscar-nominated for his portrayal of Nero, who was also played by Hans Matheson in Paul Marcus's 2005 teleplay, Nero.
More salacious was Tinto Brass's Caligula (1979), which cast Malcolm McDowell in the title role, alongside Peter O'Toole as Tiberius, Helen Mirren as Caesonia and John Gielgud as Nerva. Petronius lived at the court of Nero and his most famous work was brought to the screen with typical panache by Federico Fellini in Fellini Satyricon (1969). Pieced together from fragments of the surviving manuscript, the story centres on star-crossed buddies Encolpius (Martin Potter) and Ascyltus (Hiram Keller) and their rivalry over a youthful servant named Giton (Max Born).
Widely seen as a punishment by the gods for the decaying state of the Roman Empire, the eruption of Mount Vesuvius has regularly been recreated on screen. Ernest B. Schoedsack and Merian C. Cooper centred on the travails of blacksmith Preston Foster in The Last Days of Pompeii (1935). The arena plays an equally pivotal part in Paolo Poeti's Gladiator of Pompeii (2007) and Paul W.S. Anderson's Pompeii (2014), in which Victor Alfieri and Kit Harrington respectively demonstrate a winning ability to wield a sword. By contrast, the mood is more cerebral, as Tim Pigott-Smith plays Pliny the Elder in Peter Nicholson's account of 24 August AD79, Pompeii: The Last Day (2003).
It's back to Judea for Boris Sagal's six-hour miniseries, Masada (1981), as Flavius Silva (Peter O'Toole) hopes that the Tenth Legion can suppress the anti-Roman uprising led by Eleazer ben Yair (Peter Strauss). However, the setting shifts to Britain, as Quintus Dias (Michael Fassbender) and General Virilus (Dominic West) steer the Ninth Legion northwards to eradicate the threat posed by the Pict leader, Gorlacon (Ulrich Thomsen), in Neil Marshall's Centurion (2010). Moving on from AD 117 to 140, British slave Esca (Jamie Bell) joins centurion Marcus Aquila (Channing Tatum) in seeking to explain the mysterious fate of the Ninth Legion in Kevin Macdonald's The Eagle (2011), an adaptation of Rosemary Sutcliff's enduring bestseller, The Eagle of the North.
The reign of Commodus (AD180-192) provides the backdrop to Anthony Mann's The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964) and Ridley Scott's Gladiator (2000), which followed Ben-Hur in winning the Academy Award for Best Picture. Boasting the biggest outdoor set in screen history, the former proved a box-office failure, despite the thoughtfulness of its insights into the characters of Marcus Aurelius (Alec Guinness) and Commodus (Christopher Plummer). Of course, Gladiator was a runaway success, thanks to the fall and rise of Maximus Decimus Meridius (Russell Crowe), who loses the status he held under Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris) and has to fight to avenge his father's murder by the scheming Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix).
Between AD 284-305, Emperor Diocletian (Robert Medley) continued the persecution of the Christians, as Derek Jarman describes in Sebastiane (1976), a homoerotic treatment in Latin of the martyrdom of Saint Sebastian (Leonardo Treviglio). However, Constantine (Cornell Wilde) became the first emperor to embrace the new faith, as Lionello de Felice reveals in Constantine and the Cross (1962), which chronicles the last days of Diocletian (Nando Tamberlani) and his successor Constantius Chlorus (Carlo Ninchi). Constantine (Jack Goddard) rescues Katherine of Alexandria (Nicole Cernat) from Emperor Maxentius (Julien Vialon) in Michael Redwood's Fall of an Empire (2014), which was the penultimate film made by Peter O'Toole, who died before its release.
Long divided between Rome and Constantinople, the Empire finally crumbled following the attack led by Attila the Hun. Shortly after Anthony Quinn had taken the title role in Pietro Francisci's Attila, Jack Palance played 'the Scourge of God' in Douglas Sirk's Sign of the Pagan (both 1954). Half a century later, Gerard Butler assumed the mantle to challenge General Flavius Aetius (Powers Boothe) for the spoils in Dick Lowry's Attila (2000), while Doug Lefler sifted through the period AD 476-490 for The Last Legion (2007), which sees bodyguard Aurelius (Colin Firth) guide the last Roman Emperor, Romulus Augustus (Thomas Brodie-Sangster), to sanctuary in Britain after he is overthrown by the first King of Italy, Odoacer (Peter Mullan), at the Battle of Mount Badon. But more adventures await the newly named Pendragon and his faithful companion, Ambrosinus (Ben Kingsley) - who is now known as Merlin - when they meet the future King Arthur (Rory Finn).
Elsewhere Across the Known World
The screen history of Britain begins in pre-Roman times. Hammer's The Viking Queen (1967) saw director Don Chaffey fictionalise the struggle between the Iceni and the occupying Romans to star Finnish model Carita Järvinen as an East Anglian leader named Salina.
If Shakespeare never managed to put the Queen of the Iceni (or King Arthur for that matter) on his 'to do' list, the tale of a monarch who comes to regret dividing his lands between his three daughters certainly caught his attention. Several versions of King Lear are available from Cinema Paradiso, including those starring Paul Scofield (1971), Jüri Järvet (1971), James Earl Jones (1974), Michael Hordern (1982), Laurence Olivier (1983), Ian Holm (1998), Brian Blessed (1999), Ian McKellen (2008) and Don Warrington (2016).
Across the water, the patron saint of Ireland (in the form of Liam Neeson) was busy driving out snakes in Pamela Mason Wagner's Patrick (2004). Britain and Ireland in the Dark Ages following the fall of the Roman Empire provide the setting for Kevin Reynolds's Tristan & Isolde (2006), which was executive produced by Ridley Scott and cast James Franco and Sophia Myles as the lovers caught in a Cornish-Irish feud. Wagner wrote an opera about the pair in 1865, prior to beginning work on the Ring Cycle (1869-76), which drew upon the same Germanic legends as Fritz Lang's silent epics, Die Nibelungen: Siegfried and Die Nibelungen: Kriemhild's Revenge (both 1924).
An Anglo-Saxon poem based on Norse mythology provides the source for Sturla Gunnarsson's Beowulf & Grendel (2005), which follows Beowulf (Gerard Butler), as he comes to regret promising King Hrothgar (Stellan Skarsgård) that he would kill Grendel the troll (Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson). Ray Winstone finds himself in a similar bind in Robert Zemeckis's Beowulf (2007) after he promises Hrothgar (Anthony Hopkins) and Queen Wealthow (Robin Wright) that he will slay Grendel (Crispin Glover) and his vengeful mother (Angelina Jolie). Completing an unofficial triptych is Nick Lyon's Grendel: The Legend of Beowulf (2007), which stars Chris Bruno as the warrior seeking to liberate Ben Cross's kingdom from its terrifying tormentor.
According to the old adage, you should always leave 'em laughing, so let's finish this overview with a look at the lighter side of the ancient world. Buster Keaton finds himself in both prehistoric times and Imperial Rome in Eddie Cline's Three Ages (1923). Shoreleave sailors Tommy Trinder and Sonny Hale get hit by lightning while sheltering at Stonehenge with Wren Diana Decker and fetch up at the court of Nero (Francis L. Sullivan) and Poppaea (Frances Day) in Harry Watt's witty wartime flag-waver, Fiddlers Three (1944).
It was the misfortunes of Fox that inspired Talbot Rothwell while scripting Gerald Thomas's Carry On Cleo (1964), as Amanda Barrie's Cleopatra has the look of Elizabeth Taylor. However, there's no mistaking Sidney James and Kenneth Williams for Richard Burton and Rex Harrison, as they respectively deliver their corking lines as Mark Anthony ('Puer! Oh puer! Oh puer!') and Julius Caesar ('Infamy! Infamy! They've all got it in for me.').
Stephen Sondheim also found inspiration in an ancient text by Plautus for his musical comedy, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, which was filmed in 1966 by Richard Lester. There's no question that the character of Pseudolus played by Zero Mostel had an influence on Talbot Rothwell when he created the part of Lurcio the scheming slave for Frankie Howerd in the BBC sitcom, Up Pompeii! (1969-70). It's hardly surprising, therefore, that Michael Hordern (who had played Senex in the earlier feature) should have been cast as Ludicrus Sextus for Bob Kellett's 1971 feature spin-off, Up Pompeii (1971), which brings master and servant into the orbit of Emperor Nero (Patrick Cargill).
A clash of cultures adds to the religious satire cental to Terry Jones's Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979), as the People's Front of Judea voice their opposition to the imperialist occupation ('What have the Romans ever done for us?'). Mel Brooks gets to play both Moses and a philosopher named Comicus in History of the World, Part I (1981), who manages to offend Nero (Dom DeLuise) with a stand-up routine and winds up meeting Jesus Christ (John Hurt) after fleeing to Judea and gatecrashing the Last Supper.
Deftly combining ancient and modern, creators Caroline Leddy and Sam Leifer imagine what life in the Roman suburbs would be like for likely lads Marcus (Tom Rosenthal) and Stylax (Joel Fry) and their slave, Grumio (Ryan Sampson) in Plebs (2013-19). Coming right up to date, weedy teenager Atti (Sebastian Croft) finds himself in the ranks after upsetting Nero (Craig Roberts) in Dominic Brigstocke's Horrible Histories: The Movie - Rotten Romans (2019). But worse is to come when he's captured by a Celt named Orla (Emilia Jones), who is keen to throw in her lot with the revolting queen, Boudicca (Kate Nash).
We can't go, however, without dropping in on the residents of the small Gaulish village that manages to keep Caesar's legions at bay with the help of a strength-giving magic potion. Written by René Goscinny and illustrated by Albert Uderzo, the Asterix the Gaul books have brought pleasure to millions and Cinema Paradiso has a goodly mix of animated and live-action adaptations to choose from, including Asterix the Gaul (1967), Asterix and Cleopatra (1968), The Twelve Tasks of Asterix (1976), Asterix & Obelix Take On Caesar (1999), Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra (2002), Asterix At The Olympic Games (2008), Asterix: The Mansions of the Gods (2014) and Asterix: The Secret of the Magic Potion (2018).
