The Fall of the Roman Empire Film and History

by Winkler, Martin M.

• ISBN13: 9781405182232
• ISBN10: 1405182237
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-04-20
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

The essays collected in this book present the first comprehensive appreciation of The Fall of the Roman Empire from historical, historiographical, and cinematic perspectives. The book also provides the principal classical sources on the period. It is a companion to Gladiator: Film and History (Blackwell, 2004) and Spartacus: Film and History (Blackwell, 2007) and completes a triad of scholarly studies on Hollywood's greatest films about Roman history. A critical re-evaluation of the 1964 epic film The Fall of the Roman Empire, directed by Anthony Mann, from historical, film-historical, and contemporary points of view Presents a collection of scholarly essays and classical sources on the period of Roman history that ancient and modern historians have considered to be the turning point toward the eventual fall of Rome Contains a short essay by director Anthony Mann Includes a map of the Roman Empire and film stills, as well as translations of the principal ancient sources, an extensive bibliography, and a chronology of events

Author Biography

Martin M. Winkler is Professor of Classics at George Mason University. He is the editor of Gladiator (Blackwell, 2004), Spartacus (Blackwell, 2007) and Troy (Blackwell, 2006) and the author of The Roman Salute (2009) and Cinema and Classical Texts (2009). He has also published numerous articles on Roman literature and filmic retellings of classical and medieval history and myth.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	p. vii
Notes on Contributors	p. ix
Editor's Preface	p. xii
A Critical Appreciation of The Fall of the Roman Empire	p. 1
History, Ancient and Modern, in The Fall of the Roman Empire	p. 51
Marcus Aurelius: The Empire Over Himself	p. 89
Was Commodus Really That Bad?	p. 102
East and West in The Fall of the Roman Empire	p. 117
Empire Demolition	p. 130
Excerpts from the American Souvenir Program of The Fall of the Roman Empire	p. 136
A Prologue by Will Durant	p. 137
The Roman Forum: In Ruins Today ... and Re-Created	p. 139
An Epilogue	p. 143
Edward Gibbon and The Fall of the Roman Empire	p. 145
Fact, Fiction, and the Feeling of History	p. 174
Peace and Power in The Fall of the Roman Empire	p. 225
The Politics of The Fall of the Roman Empire	p. 241
Excerpts from Edward Gibbon	p. 262
Marcus Aurelius and His Time	p. 262
The Auction of the Empire	p. 266
The Chief Ancient Sources on Marcus Aurelius	p. 271
Cassius Dio	p. 271
The Augustan History: Marcus Antoninus the Philosopher	p. 282
Herodian	p. 298
Chronology: The Roman Empire at the Time of Marcus Aurelius	p. 302
Bibliography	p. 305
Index	p. 327
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