Movies set in Ancient Rome have been a staple of cinema for decades, with many of the best arriving in theaters in the early-mid 20th century.

The release of Cecil B. DeMille’s Samson and Delilah in 1949 heralded the return of the ancient world to the screen. It’s a movie filled with blood, desire, and a doomed romance, as the ...

Historian Michael Taylor rates depictions of ancient Rome in movies and TV shows. He reviews the depiction of gladiator fights in "Gladiator," starring Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix.

It turns out it’s not necessarily a straight historical story, but rather the long-in-development Hail Caesar, a film about a “1920s matinee film idol who takes on an Ancient Rome epic.” ...

Over the past decade, there's been a revival in popular histories of ancient Rome; not the academic tomes once reserved for specialists and students, but books and movies designed for the rest of us.

For a modern audience, it’s tempting to valorize the Roman gladiator — strong, brave, fierce — as a masculine ideal. Indeed, ancient Rome has become for many young men an exemplar of a ...

As a result, RP has been standard issue for movies set in the ancient world, from 1963's Cleopatra to 2009's Agora. (The original Gladiator movie from 2000 also made much use of this accent.) ...