Ancient Rome in Modern Reception
Module 4 examines the way that certain aspects of Ancient Roman civilization, especially those that allow for more spectacle-oriented responses, have been received in modern and digital popular culture. The “greatness” and power of the Roman Empire and certain notorious Roman Emperors have, on the one hand, generated many a lavish setting for film and TV productions in which various shades of tyranny are depicted, while slavery, the slave revolt of Spartacus, and gladiatorial combat have featured frequently in modern receptions where resistance to tyranny are the focus. What is largely missing in the reception history of Rome includes the Early-, Mid- and Late-Republic, with the exception of Spartacus, Cleopatra, and more recently (in the TV Series, Rome), the rise to power of Julius Caesar. The complexities of especially late Republican politics have, in general, not been considered suited to film and T.V. The result of this rather limited set of “objects” of reception has been a narrowing impression of Ancient Rome and its complex, sophisticated hybrid culture.
Module 4.1 and 4.2 outline three of the most popular yet least understood aspects of Roman society in the modern world, namely slavery, the slave revolt of Spartacus, and gladiatorial combat. While few would wish to justify slavery or gladiatorial combat, the crucial roles played by slaves in Roman society and the function and “meaning” of gladiatorial combat in Rome need to be carefully examined in order to understand the way in which certain aspects have been highlighted and others ignored in popular receptions.
Module 4.2
In module 4.3, a short contrast between two receptions of Spartacus and his slave revolt in (pre-digital and digital) film and TV is presented. The 1960 movie, Spartacus, starring Kirk Douglas, was of course completely pre-digital. In this treatment, Spartacus is the Christ-like freedom fighter whose sacrifices ensure the ongoing freedom of others, including his wife and child. The STARZ TV Series Spartacus, significantly enhanced by CGI, is blatantly filled with sex, violence and blood being splattered across the screen in slow-motion in the manner of the comic and film versions of 300. Indeed, the Series draws on various aspects of earlier successful receptions to create a potpourri blend of popular elements. And as one critic observed, the result was “wildly successful.”
The new peplum blockbuster movie Gladiator (2000) is then examined in module 4.4; the movie is important in that it was not only well made and extremely popular but also because, in retrospect, it has brought the blockbuster movie based in the ancient world (which had languished since the commercial failure of The Fall of the Roman Empire, 1964), back into popularity. Combining Roman battle scenes, a new visual perspective of the Roman soldier (soon to feature prominently in digital gaming), gladiatorial combat, a corrupt and dangerous Roman Emperor, star actors and CGI-enhanced violence and locations, the movie had all the right elements. Rome here stands for tyranny, with spectacular ancient Roman settings visually quoting Leni Riefenstahl’s Nazi propaganda movie The Triumph of the Will. The digitally enhanced violence in the movie is brutally depicted and was quite shocking when the movie first appeared in cinemas in 2000.
The Hunger Games movies are discussed in module 4.5. The influences on the dystopian world depicted in the novels and movies in this series include the Theseus myth, the Amazons, the Roman Empire, gladiatorial combat, Spartacus, modern warfare and dysfunctional tendencies within the modern American state. For those steeped in the Classical World, the world of Panem, where the action takes place, resonates loudly with (especially modern popular depictions of) the Roman Empire.
The theme of Roman power and Empire continues, albeit in a very different medium, in module 4.6, which examines the reception of Virgil’s Aeneid in Heavy Metal music. The association of such a deeply respected Latin epic with High Culture, especially “high” literature and opera, is well-known and expected, but its reception in a popular form like Heavy Metal is both surprising and illuminating. As Fletcher and Umurham (2019) note, from its origins, “metal has shown an interest in material from history and mythology–so much so, in fact, that this interest can be considered a defining characteristic of heavy metal” (10). 4.6 examines three Heavy Metal receptions of Virgil’s Aeneid which were all released by Italian Metal bands in 2013. Although numerous Metal bands, especially those located in areas formerly part of the Roman Empire, create Metal music glorifying their past connections to national power, none of these 3 albums do so. What is of interest to the student of Classical Reception Studies is the way they conceptualize and present their music as receptions of the Roman literary masterpiece.
Recommended Readings
- Solomon, Jon. “Ben-Hur and Gladiator: Manifest Destiny and the Contradictions of American Empire.” In Ancient Worlds in Film and Television. Ed. by Renger, Almut-Barbara and Jon Solomon. Brill, 2013, pp.17-39.
- Makins, Marian. “Refiguring the Roman Empire in The Hunger Games Trilogy.” In Classical Traditions in Science Fiction. Ed. by Brett M. Rogers and Benjamin Eldon Stevens. Oxford University Press, 2015, pp.280-306.
- Fletcher, K. F. B. “Vergil’s Aeneid and Nationalism in Italian Metal.“ Classical Antiquity in Heavy Metal Music. Bloomsbury, 2020, pp.23-52.
- Augoustakis, Antony and Monica S. Cyrino. “Introduction: Reimagining a New Spartacus.” STARZ Spartacus: Reimagining an Icon on Screen. Edinburgh University Press, 2017, pp.1-14.