Movies about Rome often bring to memory emperors, gladiators, Julius Caesar, and aristocrats. Many people also think of William Shakespeare, as the Bard himself wrote frequently on the subject in his plays. Outside of Shakespeare and adaptations of his work, Ancient Rome played a big role in massive studio movies since the early days of silent films.
Movies set in the Roman Empire fall into the "sword and sandal" movie subgenre, though the movies set in this specific corner of the ancient world are renowned for their tendency to have massive sets and budgets to match. The increased budget brought with it big risks, but the best movies set in Ancient Rome often ended up bringing awards recognition to the studios that took a chance on them. With multi-award-winning movies like Gladiator and Ben-Hur to the smaller, yet critically-beloved releases like Titus and Life of Brian , there are a wide variety of movies about Ancient Rome across multiple decades, budgets, and genres.
From classics like Spartacus to offerings from the 21st century like Troy , Greek mythology movies often showcase Hollywood at its finest. The Silver Chalice, released in , follows a Greek artisan tasked with crafting a silver cup adorned with the faces of Jesus and the disciples. His journey takes him from Jerusalem to Rome, while contending with an impostor claiming to be the new Messiah using deceptive tricks. Victor Saville acted as both director and producer of the movie, wanting to make an epic befitting of the novel of the same name on which it is based.
The story sees a Greek artisan asked to cast the chalice of Christ in silver with his disciples depicted around it. The set pieces featured abstract decorations that differentiated it from Hollywood of the s. That set design is part of why Martin Scorcese himself enjoys the movie.
While most of the movies set in Ancient Rome are about wars or the conflict between Christianity and other religions, there are some, like The Silver Chalice , that set a love story in that setting. Agora is not that, but instead, a biopic, centering on Hypatia, one of the earliest female mathematicians, philosophers, and astronomers.
