A comprehensive treatment of the Classical World in film and television, A Companion to Ancient Greece and Rome on Screen closely examines the films and TV shows centered on Greek and Roman cultures and explores the tension between pagan and Christian worlds. Written by a team of experts in their fields, this work considers productions that discuss social settings as reflections of their times and as indicative of the technical advances in production and the economics of film and television. Productions included are a mix of Hollywood and European spanning from the silent film era though modern day television series, and topics discussed include Hollywood politics in film, soundtrack and sound design, high art and low art, European art cinemas, and the ancient world as comedy. Written for students of film and television as well as those interested in studies of ancient Rome and Greece, A Companion to Ancient Greece and Rome on Screen provides comprehensive, current thinking on how the depiction of Ancient Greece and Rome on screen has developed over the past century. It reviews how films of the ancient world mirrored shifting attitudes towards Christianity, the impact of changing techniques in film production, and fascinating explorations of science fiction and technical fantasy in the ancient world on popular TV shows like Star Trek, Babylon 5, Battlestar Galactica, and Dr. Who.

A comprehensive treatment of the Classical World in film and television, A Companion to Ancient Greece and Rome on Screen closely examines the films and TV shows centered on Greek and Roman cultures and explores the tension between pagan and Christian worlds.Written by a team of experts in their fields, this work considers productions that discuss social settings as reflections of their times and as indicative of the technical advances in production and the economics of film and television. Productions included are a mix of Hollywood and European spanning from the silent film era though modern day television series, and topics discussed include Hollywood politics in film, soundtrack and sound design, high art and low art, European art cinemas, and the ancient world as comedy.Written for students of film and television as well as those interested in studies of ancient Rome and Greece, A Companion to Ancient Greece and Rome on Screen provides comprehensive, current thinking on how the depiction of Ancient Greece and Rome on screen has developed over the past century. It reviews how films of the ancient world mirrored shifting attitudes towards Christianity, the impact of changing techniques in film production, and fascinating explorations of science fiction and technical fantasy in the ancient world on popular TV shows like Star Trek, Babylon 5, Battlestar Galactica, and Dr. Who.

Notes on Contributors ixIntroduction 1Arthur J. PomeroyPART I The Development of the Depiction of Ancient Greece and Rome on Screen 151 Greece and Rome on Screen: On the Possibilities and Promises of a New Medium 17Pantelis Michelakis2 The Creation of the Epic: Italian Silent Film to 1915 37Irmbert Schenk3 From 1916 to the Arrival of Sound: The Systematization, Expressivity and Self?-reflection of the Feature Film 61Maria Wyke4 The Resurgence of Epics in the 1950s: Classical Antiquity in Post?-war Hollywood 91Konstantinos P. Nikoloutsos5 Hollywood Ascendant: Ben?-Hur and Spartacus 119Fiona Radford6 The Peplum Era 145Arthur J. PomeroyPART II Comedy, Drama, and Adaptation 1617 Hollywood Meets Art?-House Cinema: Michael Cacoyannis's "Hybrid" Euripidean Trilogy 163Anastasia Bakogianni8 Greek Tragedy as Theater in Screen?-Media 187Meredith E. Safran9 Greece and Rome on the Comic Screen 209Lisa Maurice10 The Return of a Genre 233Jerry Benjamin Pierce11 Franco Rossi's Adaptations of the Classics 253Arthur J. Pomeroy12 I, Claudius and Ancient Rome as Televised Period Drama 271Juliette Harrisson13 Premium Cable Television 293Monica S. Cyrino14 Thinking through the Ancient World: "Late Antique Movies" as a Mirror of Shifting Attitudes towardsChristian Religion 307Filippo Carlà?-Uhink15 Non?-western Approaches to the Ancient World: India and Japan--Classical Heritage or Exotic Occidentalism? 329Anja WieberPART III Film Production and Ancient World Cinema 34916 Man to Man: Music and Masculine Relations in Ben?-Hur (1925 and 1959) 351Stephan Prock17 Visual Poetry on Screen: Sets and Costumes for Ancient Greek Tragedy 385Alejandro Valverde García18 Filming the Ancient World: Have Film Historians Made a Spectacular Omission of Epic Proportions? 403Harriet MargolisPART IV The Ancient World as an Idea 42719 High Art and Low Art Expectations: Ancient Greece in Film and Popular Culture 429Alastair J. L. Blanshard20 "Soft" Science Fiction and Technical Fantasy: The Ancient World in Star Trek, Babylon 5, Battlestar Galactica and Dr Who 449Otta Wenskus21 The Ancient World is Part of Us: Classical Tragedy in Modern Film and Television 467Anastasia Bakogianni22 Ancient World Documentaries 491Fiona Hobden23 Mythology for the Young at Heart 515Martin LindnerIndex 535