The Fall of the Roman Empire Film and History

by Winkler, Martin M.

• ISBN13: 9781444311075
• ISBN10: 1444311077
• Edition: 1st
• Format: eBook
• Copyright: 2009-05-28
• 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

Notes on Contributors

Editor’s Preface

1. A Critical Appreciation of The Fall of the Roman Empire: Martin M. Winkler (George Mason University)

2. History, Ancient and Modern, in The Fall of the Roman Empire: Allen M. Ward (the University of Connecticut)

3. Marcus Aurelius: The Empire Over Himself: Diskin Clay (Duke University)

4. Was Commodus Really That Bad?: Eleonora Cavallini (Bologna University)

5. East and West in The Fall of the Roman Empire: Jan Willem Drijvers (the University of Groningen)

6. Empire Demolition: Anthony Mann

7. Excerpts from the American Souvenir Program of The Fall of the Roman Empire
7.1. A Prologue by Will Durant

7.2. The Roman Forum: In Ruins Today ¼ and Re-Created

7.3. An Epilogue

8. Edward Gibbon and The Fall of the Roman Empire: Martin M. Winkler (George Mason University)

9. Fact, Fiction, and the Feeling of History: Martin M. Winkler (George Mason University)

10. Peace and Power in The Fall of the Roman Empire: Ward W. Briggs, Jr. (the University of South Carolina)

11. The Politics of The Fall of the Roman Empire: Peter W. Rose (Miami University)

12. Excerpts from Edward Gibbon

12.1. Marcus Aurelius and His Time

12.2. The Auction of the Empire

The Chief Ancient Sources on Marcus Aurelius

Cassius Dio

The Augustan History: Marcus Antoninus the Philosopher

Herodian

Chronology: The Roman Empire at the Time of Marcus Aurelius

Bibliography

Index