Brill's Companion to Ancient Greek and Roman Warfare on Film

Konstantinos P. Nikoloutsos is Professor in the Department of History at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia (USA). He has published widely on Roman sexuality, celluloid antiquity, and classical reception. He is the editor of Ancient Greek Women in Film (Oxford University Press, 2013) and co-editor of Greeks and Romans on the Latin American Stage (Bloomsbury, 2020). Contributors are: Oskar Aguado-Cantabrana, Jeremy Armstrong, Djoymi Baker, Anastasia Bakogianni, Irene Berti, Lee L. Brice, Hannah-Marie Chidwick, Kaiti Diamantakou, Seán Easton, Renata Senna Garraffoni, Elias Koulakiotis, Óscar Luis Lapeña Marchena, Konstantinos P. Nikoloutsos, Arthur J. Pomeroy, Owen Rees, Robert A. Rushing, Patricia Salzman-Mitchell, Jonathan Stubbs, Michael Williams, Jorit Wintjes.

Acknowledgments


List of Figures


Notes on Contributors





Part 1: Introduction


1 Swords Made of Rubber: Cinematic Antiquity through the Lens of War


 Konstantinos P. Nikoloutsos





Part 2: Cinema vs. History: Testing the Accuracy of Celluloid Battles


2 Form and Function: The Importance of Military Formations in Cinematic Depictions of the Roman Army


 Jeremy Armstrong





3 Alexander in Ares’ Mirror: Armed Conflict in Oliver Stone’s Historical Epic


 Elias Koulakiotis





Part 3: The Leading Men of Celluloid Armies


4 “Hail! The Sign of the Cross”: Industrial Campaigns and Commanding Performances in The Sign of the Cross (1932) and Cleopatra (1934)


 Michael Williams





5 Richard Burton in Alexander the Great (1956) and the Mechanisms of Hollywood Stardom: Fashioning an Ancient Military Icon in Post-WWII American Cinema


 Konstantinos P. Nikoloutsos





6 Brad’s Biceps and Dwayne’s Delts: Stardom as Physicality and Digital Spectacle in Troy (2004) and Hercules (2014)


 Djoymi Baker





Part 4: Women and Military Conflict


7 Atalanta as Celluloid Warrior in Jason and the Argonauts (2000) and Hercules (2014)


 Patricia Salzman-Mitchell





8 Women on the Battlefield: Ancient Warrior Queens and Female Military Commanders on the Millennial Screen


 Irene Berti





9 “She Wants to Be Married and Give the Children Names!”: Women and the Roman Army in Post-Gladiator Films


 Jorit Wintjes





10 Women in Captivity: The Human Cost of Armed Conflict from the Trojan War to Modern Greek Cinema


 Anastasia Bakogianni





Part 5: Western Colonialism and Racist Attitudes


11 Rome vs. Carthage: Imperial and Racist Aspirations in Italian Films of the Twentieth Century


 Arthur J. Pomeroy





12 Porus vs. Alexander in Modi’s Sikandar (1941) and Stone’s Alexander (2004–2014)


 Seán Easton





Part 6: Ancient Warfare on Film and Modern Politics


13 Armed Conflict in Italian Historical Films of the Fascist and Post-WWII Era (1937–1954)


 Óscar Lapeña Marchena





14 The Noise of War: Sound, Politics and Space in the Italian Peplum


 Robert A. Rushing





15 “Make Love, Not War”: Roman Soldiers and 1960s Countercultural Masculinity in Fellini-Satyricon


 Renata Senna Garraffoni





16 Epic Combat in Ancient and Modern History: A Comparative Analysis of The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964) and The Longest Day (1962)


 Jonathan Stubbs





17 Lysistrata (1972): Political and Sexual Refractions of the Peloponnesian War during the Greek Junta


 Kaiti Diamantakou





Part 7: Ancient Battles for Millennial Spectators and the Impact of the Hollywood War Film


18 Sensational Violence: Brutality in Twenty-First-Century Cinematic Depictions of Roman Battles


 Hannah-Marie Chidwick





19 Rockules’ Revenge: The Portrayal of the Veteran Warrior in Brett Ratner’s Hercules


 Owen Rees





20 Romans and Zealots in the Global War on Terror: Asymmetric Warfare and Counterinsurgency in Risen (2016) and Ben-Hur (2016)


 Oskar Aguado-Cantabrana





Part 8: Epilogue


21 To Be Continued: Considerations of Ancient Warfare in Film


 Lee L. Brice





Index