Internet Ancient History Sourcebook
Ancient History in the Movies
[Archive Version. This list includes films up until c. 2000 AD. There have been many more ancient- themed films since and there is no current intention to keep updating this list. This copy will remain for those who have made reference to the list in books, articles, or made links to the list. Date: 17 Jan 2023]
See Main Page for a guide to
all contents of all sections.
Contents
Films and TV series set in the past can help students (and teachers)
of history to visualize the period they are studying. But film makers are usually much
more concerned with making an entertaining film rather than a historically accurate
depiction. This is especially the case with Ancient History.
The movies here are claim some loose connection to historical events, but many are
purely fictional -- such as Ben Hur. Note that some of the best of these movies
are the films made of plays by classical authors.
In general, I recommend seeing foreign language films in the original language with
subtitles rather than dubbed into English. [Try watching John Wayne dubbed into French
someday - and you'll see why dubbing almost never works.]
In reviewing a film from the viewpoint of history, rather than entertainments, here are
the sort of questions you should aim to answer.
- What seems to be accurate in the film? What sources are you using to
assess accuracy?
- In what ways does the film impact your reading of any of the documents you have read.
- What liberties does the film take with the past? Why?
- Is the film primarily entertainment, or is it really trying to work within a historical
period? How can you determine the film maker's intention?
- What, if any, modern point is the film trying make?
- My essay Thinking about Historical Film (PDF) or here (HTML) may be of interest for readers of this web page.
Notes
Pre-Historic Humans
Quest for Fire [aka La Guerre du
feu], (1981) 97 mins
Dir. Jean-Jacques Annaud
The search for a new fire source.
Back to Index
Mesopotamia
Intolerance (1916)
Dir. D.W. Griffith
First of four parts focuses on Bablyon.
Cortigiana di
Babilonia [Queen of Babylon] (1956) 98 mins
Dir. Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia. With Rhonda Fleming, Tamara Lees, Ricardo Montalban
-Italian epic with American stars set in as Chaldea/Bablyon sets to fight Assyria.
Flemming plays Semiramis. Although reportedly very bad as a movie, there is at least
connection with historical events here.
Epic of Gilgamesh (1981)
Dir. Stephen Quay and Timothy Quay
-Not clear if this is about the Epic of Gilgamesh.
Back to Index
Egypt
["Mummy's curse" movies are not listed!]
The Egyptian (1954)
Dir. Michael Curtiz. With Jean Simmons, Victor Mature, Peter Ustinov
Conflates the Egyptian story of Sinuhe with the events of Akhenaten's reign. It's ca
costume drama, but an enjoyable one. Based on a novel by Mika Waltari.
Land of the Pharaohs (1955)
Dir. Howard Hawks, With Jack Hawkins and Joan Collins.
This one has "proto-Hebrews" building pharonic tombs.
Princess of the Nile (1954) 71 mins.
Dir. Harmon Jones, With Debra Paget and Jeffrey Hunter
Sudan (1945) 76 mins.
Dir. John Rawlins, With Maria Montez
Back to Index
Biblical Epic/Ancient Israel
The Bible, AKA La Bibbia,
(1966) 174 mins.
Dir. John Huston, With Michael Parks, Richard Harris, Stephen Boyd, George C. Scott,
Ava Gardner, Peter O'Toole.
Covers: Adam & Eve, Cain & Abel, Noah, Sodom & Gomorrah and Abraham &
Isaac.
Abraham (1994) (TV) 175 mins
Dir. Joseph Sargent, With Vittorio Gassman, Richard Harris, and Barbara Hershey.
Sodom und Gomorrah (1922) 150 mins, BW
Dir. Michael Curtiz
Last Days of Sodom and Gomorrah (1962)
154 mins
Dir. Robert Aldrich, With Stewart Granger (as Lot) and Ainouk Aimée (as Queen of Sodom).
The Story of Jacob and Joseph, (1974)
(TV)
Dir. Michael Cacoyannis, With Alan Bates, and Colleen Dewhurst.
Joseph (1995) (TV)
Dir. Roger Young, With Ben Kingsley, Paul Mercurio, Martin Landau, Lesley Ann Warren.
Moses the Lawgiver (1975)(TV) 140 mins
Dir. Gianfranco De Bosio, With Burt Lancaster.
Moses (1996) (TV) 188 mins
Dir. Roger Young, With Ben Kingsley, Christopher Lee, and Geraldine McEwan
The Ten Commandments (1923) 146 mins.
Dir. Cecil B. DeMille, With Charles De Roche
Silent Movie.
The Ten Commandments (1956) 220 mins.
Dir. Cecil B. DeMille, With Charlton Heston, Yul Brynner, and Anne Baxter.
De Mille's last movie, and curiously old fashioned. Best scenes are the Parting of the Red
Sea, the engraving of the Ten Commandments, and the orgy around the Golden Calf.
The Prince of Egypt (1998) 98 mins
Dir. Brenda Chapman and Steve Hickner, With (voices of) Val Kilmer, Ralph Fiennes,
Michelle Pfeiffer, Sandra Bullock, Jeff Goldblum, Danny Glover, Patrick Stewart, Helen
Mirren, Steve Martin, and Martin Short.
Animated version of Exodus.
Samson and Delilah (1996) (TV)
Dir. Nicolas Roeg, With Elizabeth Hurley, Michael Gambon, Dennis Hopper, Diana Rigg.
King David (1985) 114 mins
Dir. Bruce Beresford, With Richard Gere as David.
Solomon and Sheba (1959) 139 mins
Dir. King Vidor, With Yul Brynner and Gina Lollobrigida.
Masada (1981) [TV Minseries] 394 mins
[or feature film length version]
Dir. Boris Sagal, With Peter O'Toole, Peter Strauss
Shot on location, the film more or less ignores the one ancient source -- Flaviu s
Josephus' The Jewish War.
Back to Index
Classical Greece
Helen
of Troy (1956)
Dir. Robert Wise, With Rossana Podestà, Stanley
Baker, Niall MacGinnis, Brigitte Bardot
The Trojan war from the Trojan viewpoint.
The 300 Spartans (1962)
Dir. Rudolph Maté. With Diane Baker, Robert Brown
Based on the history of Spartan king Leonidis and 300 soldiers holding off Xerxes attack
at Thermopylae.
Socrates (TV)(1970) in Italian
Dir. Roberto Rossellini
Barefoot in Athens (TV) (1966) 76 mins.
Dir. George Schaefer
The last days of Socrates, including his trial.
Clash of the Titans (1981) 118 mins
Dir. Desmond Davis, With Harry Hamlin, Laurence Olivier, Claire Bloom, Maggie Smith,
Ursula Andress, Siân Phillips,
Flora Robson, Anna Manahan.
An Incredible cast wasted in an adaptation of the Perseus myth.
Homer
The Odyssey (1997) [TV Miniseries] 2
hours 49 mins
Dir. Andrei Konchalovsky, With Armand Assante (Odysseus), Greta Scacchi (Penelope),
Isabella Rossellini (Athene), Bernadette Peters (Circe), Eric Roberts, Irene Papas,
Vanessa L. Williams (Calypso)
Aeschylus
Oresteia (1979) [TV Miniseries]
Agamemnon (Oresteia, Part 1) 90 min. 1983
Dir. Peter Hall, transl. Tony Harrison. National Theatre of Great Britain. Films For The
Humanities.
Choephori: The Libation Bearers (Oresteia, Part 2) 70 mins. 1982
Dir. Peter Hall, transl. Tony Harrison. National Theatre of Great Britain. Films For The
Humanities.
Eumenides: The Furies (Oresteia, Part 3) 70 mins, 1983
Dir. Peter Hall, transl. Tony Harrison. National Theatre of Great Britain. Films For The
Humanities.
Agamemnon (Oresteia, Part 1) 108 mins
London Small Theatre Company, translation for the stage by Peter Meineck, 1991.
Sophocles
Ajax
New translation; featuring Yasmin Sidhwa, James Moriarty. 71 min.Video/C 2698
Oedipus Rex (1967) 119 mins
Dir. Pier Paolo Pasolini, With Silvana Mangano (Jocasta) and Franco Citti (Oedipus), Alida
Valli (Merope), Carmelo Bene (Creon), Julian Beck (Tiresias).
Oedipus Rex (Theban Plays) 45 mins.
With Anthony Quayle, James Mason, Claire Bloom, Ian Richardson.
A presentation of Sophocles' Oedipus the King, performed in the authentic setting of a
fifth-century Greek theater, with the use of masks made after ancient models.
Oedipus the King (1968) 97 mins
Dir. Philip Saville, With Christopher Plummer and Orson Welles.
Oedipus the King (1984) (TV) 111 mins
Dir. Don Taylor, With Michael Pennington (I)
Edipo alcalde AKA Oedipus Mayor (1996) 100 mins.
Dir. Jorge Alí Triana
Sophocles Oedipus as rendered by Gabriel García Márquez.
Oedipus at Colonus (1984)(TV)
Dir. Don Taylor, With Anthony Quayle and Juliet Stevenson.
Antigone (1960) (TV)
Dir. Hans Dahlin, With Ulla Sjöblom as Antigone
In Swedish
Antigone,
Aka Rites for the Dead (1961) 86 mins.
Dir. George Tzavellas, With Irene Papas as Antigone
In Greek with English subtitles.
Antigone (1984) (TV) 111 mins
Dir. Don Taylor, With Juliet Stevenson as Antigone.
[Princeton, N.J.: Films for the Humanities, c 1988 (120 min., color). Videocassette
release of the 1984 television production by BBC-TV.
Antigone (1992)
Dir. Danièle Huillet and Jean-Marie Straub, With Astrid Ofner as Antigone. In
German.
Antigone: Rites of Passion (1990) 85 mins
Dir. Amy Greenfield, With Bertram Ross, Janet Eilber, Amy Greenfield, In English.
An "adaptation" rather than a version of the play.
I Cannibali AKA The Year of
the Canibals (1970) 88 mins
Dir. Liliana Cavani, With Britt Ecklund
Italian version of Antigone -- by a major Italin auteur director.
Euripides
The Bacchae (1999)
Dir. Bradford Mays, With Brian Blessed.
Electra (1962)
Dir. Michael Cacoyannis, With Irene Papas
In Greek.
Iphigenia (1977) 127 Mins
Dir. Michael Cacoyannis, With Irene Papas
In Greek
Le Baccanti [aka The
Bacchantes] (1961)
Dir. Giorgio Ferroni
Medea (1963) (TV) 95 mons
Dir. Keve Hjelm
In Swedish
Medea (1970)
Dir. Pier Paolo Pasolini, With Maria Callas
In Italian
Medea was one of Callas' great operative roles, but here she acts without music.
Medea (1982) 90 mins.
Dir. Mark Cunningham, With Zoe Caldwell.
A Kennedy Center production about a proud woman betrayed by the man she loves.
Medea (1986) 110 mins.
Dir. Peter Steadman
"A production of Euripides’ tragedy with all the traditional components of
classical theater meticulously researched and dramatized: two actors with masks, a chorus,
song, dance and mimetic acting. The intonation of the classical Greek text is in
accordance with recent linguistic discoveries. Introduction and commentary by Professor
William Arrowsmith. With English subtitles." [At SFSU]
Medea (1987) (TV)
Dir. Lars von Trier
Danish TV version.
A Dream of Passion (1978)
Dir. Jules Dassin, With Melina Mecouri
Adaptation of Medea.
The
Trojan Women (1971) 109 Min
Dir. Michael Cacoyannis, With Katherine Hepburn, Vanessa Redgrave, and Irene Papas.
Aristophanes
Lysistrata (1972) in Modern
Greek, 97 mins
Dir. Georgos Zervoulakos, With Jenny Karezi.
[New York] : New York Film Annex, c1987 ISBN 1558814965 [At UC Berkeley]
The date of the movie is needed to understand it. It combines a fairly accurate rendtion
of the play with intense anti-Americanism and a variety of modern Greek songs.
The Second Greatest Sex (1955) 87 Mins
Dir. George Marshall (I)
A "Western/Musical" movie based on Lysistrata.
Escuela de seductoras (1962) 83 mins
Dir. León Klimovsky
Spanish version of Lysistrata
Flickorna AKA The Girls (1968)
100 mins
Dir. Mai Zetterling, With Bibi Andersson
Version of Lysistrata in Swedish, BW
The Birds (Excerpts)
With Neil Pepe, Ed Porter, Todd Weeks, Phil Reilly, Clare Tattersull, Terry Hardcastle,
1991. 43 min. Video/C 2549
Frogs
With Rick Smith, Rachel Springs, Jon Williams, Fiona Laird--cast of the London Small
Theatre Company, 1991. 110 min. Video/C 3239
Back to Index
Hellenistic Greece
Alexander the Great (1956) 143 mins
Dir. Michael Forlong and Robert Rossen. With Richard Burton, Fredric March, Claire Bloom,
Peter Cushing, Michael Hordern
Currently the main Hollywood-made Alexander movie.
The Ptolemies
BBC TV series.
Back to Index
Roman Empire
Spartacus (1960)
Dir. Stanley Kubrick, With Lawrence Olivier, Tony Curtis, and Kirk Douglas
Cleopatra (1963) 243 mins
Dir. Joseph L. Mankiewicz. With Elizabeth Taylor, Cleopatra, Richard Burton, Rex Harrison.
-Not as bad as it is reputed to be, but not as camp as the 1934 Cecil B. DeMille version [102 mins] with
Claudette Colbert.
Cleopatra (1999) [TV Miniseries; also
reduced film version]
Dir. Franc Roddam, With Leonor Varela, Timothy Dalton, Billy Zane and Rupert Graves
Caesar and Cleopatra (1946)
Dir. Gabriel Pascal, With Claude Rains and Vivien Leigh
Writer -- George Bernard Shaw
Julius
Caesar (1953)
Dir. Joseph L. Mankiewicz. after Shakespeare
Caligula (1980) 115 mins (R rated
version) /156 mins (unrated version)
Dir. Tinto Brass and Bob Guccione, With Malcolm McDowell, Helen Mirren, Peter O'Toole,
John Gielgud
Despite the cast, this has some pornographic sequences.
I, Claudius (1976) BBC TV-Series, 10 episodes of 50 mins.
Dir. Herbert Wise. With Derek Jacobi, Siân Phillips, Brian Blessed, John Hurt
One of the best TV series ever made. Based on Robert Graves' novels I, Claudius and Claudius the God, which in turn were based on Suetonius. The acting is
superb.
Age of Treason (1993) 93 mins.
Dir. Kevin Connor, With Matthias Hues
Murder mystery set in 69 CE.
The Arena (1973)
Dir. Steve Carver, With Pam Grier.
Women slaves fight in the Arena. A Blaxpolitation movie.
The Fall of
the Roman Empire (1964) 188 mins
Dir. Anthony Mann. With Sophia Loren, Stephen Boyd, Alec Guinness, James Mason,
Christopher Plummer.
Essentially the story of the transition from Marcus Aurelius to Commodus. Gladiator represents a remake.
Gladiator (2000) 154 mins
Dir. Ridley Scott, With Russell Crowe.
A movie which may represent the rebirth of the sandals and sand epic. It was widely
praised in the press, and panned by ancient historians (with the Harvard faculty member
who was listed as "historical" consultant sending out a mass apologia to
colleagues). Ridley Scott made full use of modern technology to create a "real"
ancient Rome, but the result looks more like the French Second Empire. The Arena sequences
are OK, but do not match those with Charlton Heston in Ben Hur.
Attila (2001) (TV mini)
US, HIstorical, Color
Director. Rick Lowry
Sign of the Pagan (1955) 92 mins.
Dir. Douglas Sirk, With Jeff Chandler and Jack Palance.
The Story of Attila the Hun....
Titus (2000) 162 mins.
Dir. Julie Taymor
Plautus
Amphitryon (1935) 105 mins
Dir. Reinhold Schünzel
A musical made in Nazi Germany based on Plautus
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the
Forum (1966)
Dir. Richard Lester, With Zero Mostel and Phil Silvers.
Based on Plautus' play Miles Gloriosus.
Terence
That Girl from Andros 115 mins.
In earliest Engl. verse translation, c. 1500. Films For The Humanities.
Petronius
Satyricon (1969)
Dir. Federico Fellini
Seneca
Fedra (1956)
Dir. Manuel Mur Oti
Back to Index
Biblical Epic/Life of Christ
From the Manger to the Cross (1912) BW,
Silent
Dir. Sidney Olcott. With Robert Henderson-Bland as Jesus.
The King of Kings (1927) BW, Silent
Dir. Cecil B. Demille, With H.B. Warner as Jesus.
King of Kings (1961) 168 mins
Dir. Nicholas Ray, With Jeffrey Hunter as Jesus.
Hunter is very whitebread ideal of Jesus.
Gospel According to Matthew (1964) 136
mins
Dir. Pier Paol Pasolini, With Enrique Irazoqui as Jesus.
Pasolini, an agnostic or atheist Marxist, made what is often considered the purest Jesus
movie by using only the Gospel of Matthew (he left out the "Saint" in the
Italian title) and the services of local non-professional actors.
The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) 268
mins
Dir, George Stevens, With Max von Sydow as Jesus.
Very long, and full of "guest stars," including a famous appearance by John
Wayne as the centurion at the cross. With von Sydow as a very in control Jesus, this film
perhaps best presents the Jesus of the Gospel of John.
Jesus Christ Superstar (1973) 108 mins
Dir. Norman Jewison, With Ted Neely as Jesus.
A filmed version of Andrew Lloyd-Weber and Tim Rice's musical. Although many enjoy the
music, it was widely criticized for its stressed-out Jesus and failure to go beyond the
crucifixion. In effect, this is the most "de-mythologizing" of all the Jesus
movies.
Godspell (1973) 103 mins
Dir. David Greene, With Victor Garber as Jesus
In general this was a more "religious" musical adaptation of Jesus's life than Superstar.
Jesus of Nazareth (TV)(1977) 371 mins
Dir. Franco Zeffirelli, With Robert Powell as Jesus.
As a made-for-TV series, Zeffirelli was able to take longer with his story, and his is
probably the most faithful to the gospel's telling of the story. Although no actor has
satisfactorily played Jesus, Robert Powell looked the part (at least as established in
Western art), and played it without the gauchness (Hunter) or sheer weirdness (von Sydow,
Neely) of others.
Jesus (1979), 117 mins /DVD
Dir. John Krish and Peter Sykes, With Brian Deacon as Jesus.
Apart from the prologue, this movie is entirely based on the Gospel of Luke. It was
produced by evangelical Protestants (Campus Crusade for Christ) who rave over it, and have
made audio tracks in over 660 languages! The whole film is available to view online. Unfortunately the acting is
lousy and Jesus presented as a tepid bourgeois, perhaps just as men in suits would like
him to be. It is, however, interesting to compare this with Pasolini's version of the
Gospel of Matthew.
The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)
168 mins.
Dir. Martin Scorcese, With William Dafoe as Jesus.
Based on Kazantzaki's novel, in which Jesus on the cross dreams of avoiding his death and
marrying Mary Magdalene (i.e. one final temptation), this was stupidly criticized as
blasphemous when it came out.
Jesus of Montreal (1989) in French. 120
mins.
Dir. Denys Arcand
A group of actors puts on a play about Jesus, while their lives come to echo the play.
Jesus (TV)(1999) 2x 60 mins.
Dir. Robert Young, with Jeremy Sisto as Jesus.
The Miracle Maker (TV)(2000) 90 mins
Dir. Derek W. Hayes and Stanislav Sokolov, With Ralph Fiennes as Jesus.
A claymation version of the life of Jesus.
Back to Index
Biblical Epic/Early Christian
The Sign of the Cross (1932) 115
mins.
Dir. Cecil B. DeMille, With Fredric March, Elissa Landi, Claudette Colbert, and Charles
Laughton.
Nero burns Rome. This was made before the Hayes code, and represents an high point id De
Mille's skill of getting in as much sin as possible under a pious justification. Laughton
as Nero is every bit as decadent as one could hope, but the last third of the movie is
spectacular. Frederic March tries to "warm up" the Christian girl (Landi) he is
pursuing by taking her to an orgy where she is carressed by a half-dressed lesbian -- in
the background, martyrs sing on their way to the arena. The arena scenes are
massively violent and erotic -- with naked women being attacked by crocadiles, and, at one
point, an Amazon spearing a pygmy and lifting the still wriggling guy up in the air.
The movies was cut to shreds after the Hays code, and it is important to get hold
of the uncut version.
The Silver Chalice (1954) 142 mins
Dir. Victor Saville, With Pier Angeli, Virginia Mayo, Paul Newman and Natalie Wood.
Newman in his first role. He was so embarrassed that in later years, whne this was shown
on TV, he used to take out ads in Variety asking people not to watch...
Quo vadis? (1951) 171 mins
Dir. Mervyn LeRoy
The Robe (1953) 135 mins
Dir. Henry Koster, With Richard Burton, Jean Simmons, Victor Mature.
Demetrius and the Gladiators (1954)
Dir. Delmer Daves, With Victor Mature and Susan Hayward (as Messalina).
Ben-Hur (1926) 143 mins
Dir. Fred Niblo, With Ramon Novarro.
Silent but spectacular.
Ben-Hur (1959) 212 mins.
Dir. William Wyler, With Charlton Heston, Jack Hawkins, and Stephen Boyd.
Ben Hur is a love story between two men: Heston was not let into the secret (he has made a
career of unacknowledged homoeroticism -- see The Agony and the Ecstasy or Planet
of the Apes], but Boyd knew what role he was to play. The Arena sequences are among
the best put on film.
Fabiola (1949)
Dir. Alessandro Blasetti, With Michèle Morgan
In Italian
Sebastiane (1976) in Latin. 90 Min.
Dir. Derek Jarman.
Constantine the Great [aka Constantine
and the Cross] (1962)
Dir. Lionello De Felice, With Cornel Wilde.
Back to Index
See Also
The Internet History Sourcebooks Project is located at the History Department of Fordham University, New York. The Internet Medieval Sourcebook, and other medieval components of the project, are located at the Fordham University Center for Medieval Studies.The IHSP recognizes the contribution of Fordham University, the Fordham University History Department, and the Fordham Center for Medieval Studies in
providing web space and server support for the project. The IHSP is a project independent of Fordham University. Although the IHSP seeks to follow all applicable copyright law, Fordham University is not the institutional owner, and is not liable as the result of any legal action.
© Site Concept and Design: Paul Halsall, created 26 Jan 1996: latest revision 2 April 2023 [CV]
|
