“Pomp, Pageantry, Spectacle Unsurpassed” –  Hollywood had a passion for the ancient world, and in the many epic movies produced during its Golden Age (1915-1965), the film studios  used every device they could muster to wow audiences with spectacle - all to convince them that they were voyeurs of “living history”. The majesty of the epic genre was created in the on-screen chariot races, slave markets, and gladiatorial contests; it was there in the vastness and monumentality of Rome under the Caesars, the pyramids of the Pharaohs, or the Jewish temple in Jerusalem.  The glamour was provided by extravagant costumes and the casting of movie stars like Rita Hayworth as Salome, Kirk Douglas as Spartacus, and Victor Mature as Samson. Nobody can think of Cleopatra without visualizing Elizabeth Taylor; she outlives history just as Charlton Heston outlives Ben-Hur and Moses. And Peter Ustinov will perpetually be seen in the guise of Nero, just as Nero will always be envisaged as Peter Ustinov.  This unique and lively course will show how in the years between 1915 and 1965 Hollywood carefully created the modern perception of antiquity; it analyses how producers, art directors, costumiers, musicians, publicity agents, film stars, and, inevitably, “a cast of thousands” literally designed the ancient world from scratch.

This course traces the development of the epic film genre in Hollywood and will question how the American film industry approached, used and marketed the ancient world. The course will question the political, social and cultural use of the past in Hollywood cinema, as well as examining issues such as masculinity, spectacle, sex and sexuality, advertising and marketing, film production, and film design. This course focuses on epic movies of Hollywood’s Golden Age as a vehicle by which we can understand the importance cinematic uses and recreations of the past in modern culture. 

Upon completion of the course it is intended that students will be able to demonstrate: 

• knowledge of some important aspects of ideologies encountered in Hollywood's dialogue with the past;
• awareness of filmmaking techniques and audience reception of the past;
• in-depth studies of several key 'epic' films;
• understanding of the political, social and cultural use of the past in Hollywood cinema;
• ability to use critically a variety of different categories of written and visual evidence, including scripts, designs and marketing imagery;
• understanding of diverse aspects of film and reception studies.

10 2-hour teaching sessions; 1 revision session; independent study, including film-viewings to be conducted without of the teaching hours; 1 group-screening of a chosen movie; 1 formative session per project group.

The teaching sessions offer a combination of traditional lecturing, class discussions, and other exercises. The lectures are a useful starting point for further discussion and exercises taking place during the teaching sessions. This provides an opportunity for students to analyse and discuss key issues and topics in the module, and to get feedback on their ideas from the tutor and their peers. Materials for study and suggestions for preparatory reading will be circulated prior to the sessions.

Independent study enables students to familiarise themselves with the primary source material and the most important modern approaches and debates on the subject. A list of required films is provided below.

Coursework feedback tutorials provide students with an opportunity to get feedback and guidance on all aspects of their written work.

• analysis of different forms of historical evidence, including literary texts, inscriptions, and material evidence
• observation and visual analysis
• assimilating and synthesising complex information and ideas
• critical thinking skills, including evaluating evidence, assessing arguments, and challenging assumptions
• constructing and defending arguments based on evidence
• clear, accurate and effective communication of ideas and arguments in writing and in debate
• employing basic skills and conventions in the presentation and use of literary and material evidence
• contributing to group discussions
• using IT resources effectively
• independent working and time management
• bibliographic and referencing skills

The module will be assessed through a group project (50%) and an examination (50%)

Students who fail the module will normally be expected to resit the failed component(s) in the summer resit period.

• Marketing the past
• The studio system
• Directors and designers
• The Star System and epic actors
• Costume design and set design
• Music and the soundtrack
• Politics and the epic film
• Faith and belief on screen
• Women and the on-screen gaze
• Masculinity in epic movies
• Queer identity in epics

Films to be studied

Sunset Boulevard

(Wilder, 1950)

Samson and Delilah

 (DeMille 1950)

The Sign of the Cross

 (DeMille, 1932)

Cleopatra

 (DeMille, 1934)

Cleopatra

(Mankiewitz, 1963)

David and Bathsheba

 (King, 1951)

The Egyptian

 (Curtiz, 1954)

The Ten Commandments

(DeMille, 1956)

Ben-Hur

(Wyler, 1959)

The Robe

 (Koster 1953)

Spartacus

(Kubrick, 1960) 

Salome

(Dieterle, 1953)

The Prodigal

 (Thorpe, 1955)

Solomon and Sheba

(Vidor, 1959)

Quo Vadis

(LeRoy 1951)

Demetrius and the Gladiators

(Daves, 1954)

The Fall of the Roman Empire

(Mann, 1964)

The Bible: In the Beginning

 (Huston, 1966)

Babington, B. and Evans, P.W. 1993. Biblical Epics. Sacred Narrative in the Hollywood Cinema. Manchester. 

Birchard, R.S. 2004. Cecil B. DeMille’s Hollywood. Lexington.

Blanshard, A. and Shahabudin, K. 2011. Classics on Screen. London.

Cyrino, M.S. 2005. Big Screen Rome. Oxford.  

------2013a. ‘Ancient Sexuality on Screen’ in T.K. Hubbard (ed.), A Companion to Greek and Roman Sexualities. Oxford. 613-28. 

Llewellyn-Jones, L. 2002. ‘Celluloid Cleopatras or Did the Greeks Ever Get to Egypt?’ in D. Ogden (ed.), The Hellenistic World. New Perspectives. London. 275-304. 

------2005. ‘The Fashioning of Delilah. Costume Design, Historicism and Fantasy in Cecil B. DeMille’s Samson and Delilah (1949)’ in L. Cleland, M. Harlow & L. Llewellyn-Jones (eds.) The Clothed Body in the Ancient World. Oxford. 14-29.  

------2009. ‘Hollywood’s Ancient World’ in A. Erskine (ed.), A Companion to the Ancient World. Oxford. 564-79

Malamud, M. 2009. Ancient Rome and Modern America. Oxford. 

Richards, J. 2008. Hollywood’s Ancient Worlds. London. 

Solomon, J. 2001 (2^nd edition). The Ancient World in Cinema. New Haven and London.

Winkler, M.M. 2007. Spartacus. Film and History. Oxford.