Elena Theodorakopoulos is a lecturer in Classics at the University of Birmingham. She has recently co-edited The Rhetoric of Advice in Greece and Rome (2007) with Diana Spencer and has written chapters for The Sites of Rome: Time, Space, Memory (2007), edited by D. Larmour and D. Spencer, and Blackwell Companion to Catullus (2007), edited by M. Skinner.

Promotional Information

* Careful analysis of both Hollywood and avant-garde films, with stress on visual aspects * Films covered include mainstream blockbusters Ben Hur, Spartacus, The Fall of the Roman Empire, Gladiator and avant-garde productions Fellini's Satyricon and Roma and Julie Taymor's Titus * Companion volume to the well-received Ancient Greece in Film and Popular Culture by Gideon Nisbet (now in its second edition)

Table of Contents

• List of Illustrations vi
• Introduction 1
• 1 Narrative and Spectacle, Realism and Illusion, and
• the Historical Film 9
• 2 Ben-Hur: ‘Tale of the Christ’ or Tale of Rome? 30
• 3 Spartacus and the Politics of Story-Telling 51
• 4 The Fall of the Roman Empire: The Filmmaker as
• Historian 77
• 5 Gladiator: Making it New? 96
• 6 Fellini Satyricon: ‘Farewell to Antiquity’ or ‘Daily
• Life in Ancient Rome’? 122
• 7 Titus: Rome and the Penny Arcade 145
• Conclusion 168
• Notes 173
• Further Reading and Viewing 186
• Bibliography 190
• Filmography 196
• Index

About the Author

Elena Theodorakopoulos is a lecturer in Classics at the University of Birmingham. She has recently co-edited 'The Rhetoric of Advice in Greece and Rome' (2007) with Diana Spencer and has written chapters for 'The Sites of Rome: Time, Space, Memory '(2007), edited by D. Larmour and D. Spencer, and 'Blackwell Companion to Catullus' (2007), edited by M. Skinner.

Reviews

Theodorakopoulos ist eine weitgehend koharente Auseinandersetzung mit wichtigen Erzeugnissen des Antikfilmgenres gelungen, wobei gerade die Heterogenitat der Beispiele aus dem Mainstream-Kino und dem Autorenfilm die Untersuchung bereichert. Durch ein gut strukturiertes Theoriekapitel, in dem die Autorin auf wichtige Theorien zum Medium Film, zum Historienfilm sowie zur Thematik der Metahistorie eingeht, werden die Betrachtungen zu den einzelnen Produktionen gut vorbereitet. Die Bezugnahme auf unterschiedliche Theorien aus den verschiedensten interdisziplinaren Bereichen an der Schnittstelle zwischen Medien- und Geschichtswissenshaften macht diese Publikation auch fur den Einsatz im didaktischen Bereich wertvoll.