7 Movies about Ancient Rome I Highly Recommend ...

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This has to be the daddy of all the movies about Ancient Rome. It set the standard when it walked away with 11 Oscars in 1960. The story of Ben Hur is that of a Jewish Prince betrayed by a Roman friend who rises again, set in the time when the Roman Empire was having to deal with the beginning of Christianity. Charlton Heston is magnificent in the eponymous role and the chariot race remains one of the greatest and more remembered scenes in movie history. Ben Hur deserves its place in the list of Top 100 American Movies of all time as compiled by the AFI.

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At a time when the “sword and sandal” genre seemed to have faded into the background, where special effects and visual imagery in the movies was everything, along came the formidable team of Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe. Another multiple Oscar winner (including best actor and best picture), Gladiator is the story of Maximus Decimus Meridius – the former Roman general who became a slave, who became a gladiator, who became the man who defied an emperor. Bloody, romantic, exciting and a fantastic musical score – magnificent!

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Boy, do I remember the furore in Britain when this was released back in 1979. We had senior members of the clergy castigating the Monty Python team for blasphemy and local councils banning it from cinemas. How times change. Today, The Life of Brian is recognized as a tour de force in farce, and the life as a Jew under Roman Imperial rule is brilliantly portrayed and parodied. It is one of the very few movies about Ancient Rome that is very funny and it’s full of clever laughs. I say “always look on the bright side of life…”

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Here we go with the slavery and defiance again. This is quite a common theme in movies about Ancient Rome, but its importance can’t be denied. The struggle against oppression has always been good copy. Released the year after Ben Hur, Spartacus too picked up a clutch of Oscars (4) although interestingly, it was Peter Ustinov who carried off the acting honor as Best Supporting Actor – Kirk Douglas as Spartacus was not even nominated. That doesn’t take anything away from this Stanley Kubrick masterpiece though. I’m Spartacus… I’m Spartacus… I’m Spartacus…

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Ok, now it’s time to focus on Rome and its decadence during certain periods of its great empire. A number of Roman Emperors gained notoriety for their lifestyles and none more so than Caligula. This is another of the movies about Ancient Rome that shocked when first released. It is still considered shocking enough as to only be available on iTunes in French, even though it is an English language film. It is graphic, vivid, hedonistic and debauched – just like the life of Caligula is reported to have been.

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As a Brit who has spent many happy hours touring Roman ruins, visiting Bath and Hadrian’s Wall, my list of movies about Ancient Rome has to include one set in Britain. The Eagle is the story of the Lost Ninth Legion who disappeared in the uncharted mountains of Scotland. The story follows the quest of the legion commander’s son to find out what happened to the men and to recover the legion’s golden symbol.

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I’m quite sad that many of the magnificent stories about Ancient Rome have not been made into movies. There are some amazingly fascinating emperors, stories of conquest, betrayal, lust, and madness – although there have been some terrific TV series lately. But, Christianity and slavery remains the major theme and among the great movies about Ancient Rome, The Robe stands tall. This movie tells the story of Marcellus, a Roman guard who served at the Crucifixion. His life is changed forever after he gains possession of Jesus’s robe. The Robe has the honor of being the first ever movie to be filmed in Cinemascope and Richard Burton was nominated for the Best Actor Oscar.

I wish there were more movies about Ancient Rome. I’d love to see something about the founding and growth of the city and Empire, and more about some particular emperors. What about you. Movies about Ancient Rome – take ‘em or leave ‘em?