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List of films set in ancient Rome

This page lists films set in the city of Rome during the Roman Kingdom, the Roman Republic, or the Roman Empire. The films only partly set in Rome are so noted.

The founding of Rome

Films set during the founding of Rome include:

  • Duel of the Titans (1961) – based on the legend of Romulus and Remus with Steve Reeves as Romulus and Gordon Scott as Remus
  • The Avenger (1962) – based on Virgil's Aeneid with Steve Reeves as Aeneas: a story of the hero leading escaped survivors of the Trojan War to new land in Italy.
  • The First King (2019) - in archaic Latin; directed by Matteo Rovere

The Roman Kingdom

Reign of Romulus

  • Romulus and the Sabines (1961)
  • The Rape of the Sabine Women (1962) – about the Rape of the Sabine Women (dir. by Richard Pottier)

Reign of Tullus Hostilius

The Roman Republic

Early Roman Republic

  • Le vergini di Roma (1961) – French-Italian film (directed by Carlo Luigi Bragaglia and Vittorio Cottafavi), including characters of Etruscan king Porsenna and Mucius Scaevola
  • Hero of Rome (1964) – with Gordon Scott as Gaius Mucius Scaevola (directed by Giorgio Ferroni)
  • Coriolanus: Hero without a Country (1964) – with Gordon Scott as Gaius Marcius Coriolanus (dir. by Giorgio Ferroni)
  • Brennus, Enemy of Rome (1963) – about the Battle of the Allia and sack of Rome in 387 BC, with Gordon Scott as Brennus
  • Coriolanus (2011) – adaptation of Shakespeare's play, dir. by Ralph Fiennes (also starring)

Second Punic War

Third Punic War

  • Cartagine in fiamme (1960) – after the novel by Emilio Salgari, dir. by Carmine Gallone

2nd century BC

Third Servile War

  • Spartak (1926) – an early Soviet production (dir. by Ertugrul Muhsin-Bey), based on the novel by Raffaello Giovagnoli [now lost]
  • Sins of Rome (1953) – dir. by Riccardo Freda
  • Spartacus (1960) – with Kirk Douglas as Spartacus and Laurence Olivier as Marcus Licinius Crassus (dir. by Stanley Kubrick)
  • Il figlio di Spartacus (1962) – unofficial Italian sequel to Spartacus directed by Sergio Corbucci
  • Spartacus (2004) – with Goran Visnjic as Spartacus (dir. by Robert Dornheim)
  • Spartacus: Blood and Sand (2010) – with Andy Whitfield as Spartacus, Manu Bennett as Crixus, Peter Mensah as Oenomaus, John Hannah as Lentulus Batiatus, and Craig Parker as Gaius Claudius Glaber
  • Spartacus: Gods of the Arena (2011) – prequel to Spartacus: Blood and Sand. The plot of Gods of the Arena follows Lentulus Batiatus's (John Hannah) life as a lanista, and Gannicus's (Dustin Clare) time as a gladiator
  • Spartacus: Vengeance (2012) – sequel to Spartacus: Blood and Sand, with Liam McIntyre replacing Andy Whitfield as Spartacus, after Whitfield's unexpected death in 2011
  • Spartacus: War of the Damned (2013) – the third (final) season of the series

Julius Caesar

  • Gaius Julius Caesar (1914) – a silent film, directed by Enrico Guazzoni
  • Caesar Against the Pirates (1962) – a tale of Caesar being caught by pirates and asking for help to get back to Rome
  • Caesar the Conqueror (1962) – an Italian film about the career of Julius Caesar and his Gallic Wars (directed by Tanio Boccia)
  • The Giants of Rome (1964) – Italian-French adventure film set in the Roman warfare against Vercingetorix (directed by Antonio Margheriti), with Richard Harrison as Claudius Marcellus
  • Julius Caesar (1950)(directed by David Bradley). This is a film adaptation of Shakespeare's play
  • Julius Caesar (1953) – deals with the assassination of Julius Caesar and the Liberators' civil war, with Marlon Brando as Mark Antony and John Gielgud as Gaius Cassius Longinus (directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz). This is a film adaptation of Shakespeare's play
  • Julius Caesar (1970) – deals with the assassination of Julius Caesar and the Liberators' civil war
  • Druids (2001) – the life and career of Vercingetorix (starring Christopher Lambert), a Gallic adversary of Rome in the film of Jacques Dorfmann
  • Julius Caesar (2002)
  • Empire (2005)
  • Rome (2005) – deals with the assassination of Julius Caesar and the Liberators' civil war
  • Caesar (Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire – Episode One) (2006) – docudrama about the Gallic Wars and Caesar's Civil War
  • Roman Empire: Reign of Blood (2018) – five episode Documentary/drama series produced by Netflix about the life and reign of Julius Caesar

Cleopatra

The Roman Empire

1st century BC

  • Imperium: Augustus (2003)
  • Empire (TV series) (2005)
  • Rome (2005–2007) – 22-episode TV series, a joint British-American-Italian production on Rome's transition from Republic to Empire (dir. by Michael Apted)

The Life of Jesus

Main article: List of actors who have played Jesus
  • La vie et la passion de Jésus-Christ (1903) – the French Pathé-production (dir. by Ferdinand Zecca) [second version (1907) as Vie et passion de notre seigneur Jésus-Christ]
  • Ben-Hur (1907) – the first known version (15-minute long) adapted from the famous Lew Wallace's novel, dir. by Sidney Olcott
  • Intolerance (1916) – silent film told in several time-periods with a segment set in 27 AD leading to the Crucifixion
  • Three Ages (1923) – a parody of Intolerance also with its own Roman section
  • Ben-Hur (1925) – silent film dir. by Fred Niblo, starring Ramon Novarro (the picture noteworthy for its color segments and for the female nudity in the parade sequence)
  • King of Kings (1927)
  • Golgotha (1935)
  • Ben-Hur (1959) – a monumental Hollywood production directed by William Wyler, starring Charlton Heston; partly set in Rome
  • King of Kings (1961)
  • Pontius Pilate (1962) – with Jean Marais as Pontius Pilate
  • The Life of Brian (1979) – dir. by Terry Jones
  • The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) – dir. by Martin Scorsese, with Willem Dafoe as Jesus Christ
  • The Gospel of John (2003)
  • Ben-Hur (2003) – animated version (the fourth in all) of the novel by Lew Wallace
  • The Passion of the Christ (2004) – dir. by Mel Gibson, with Jim Caviezel as Jesus Christ ; recorded in original languages (Aramaic, Hebrew, Latin)
  • Ben Hur (2010) – miniseries by Steve Shill
  • Ben-Hur (2016) – new American version directed by Timur Bekmambetov with Jack Huston as Ben-Hur
  • Risen (2016) – a biblical drama dir. by Kevin Reynolds with Cliff Curtis featuring Yeshua (Jesus Christ)

Reigns of Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula and Claudius

Reign of Nero

  • Quo Vadis (1901) – the earliest adaptation made by Lucien Nonguet and Ferdinand Zecca
  • Quo Vadis (1913) – the second silent version directed by Enrico Guazzoni
  • Quo Vadis (1924) – Italian production directed by Georg Jacoby and Gabriellino D'Annunzio, with Emil Jannings as Nero
  • The Sign of the Cross (1932) – with Charles Laughton as Nero
  • Fiddlers Three (1944) – British production, starring Tommy Trinder, Sonnie Hale and Francis L. Sullivan as the Emperor Nero.
  • Quo Vadis (1951) – American production with Peter Ustinov as Nero (dir. by Mervyn LeRoy)
  • The Silver Chalice (1954) – starring Paul Newman (dir. by Victor Saville)
  • The Romans (1965) – classic Doctor Who season 2 ep. 4
  • Fellini Satyricon (1969) – fantasy drama loosely based on Petronius's work (dir. by Federico Fellini)
  • Satyricon – fantasy drama based on Petronius's work (dir. by Gian Luigi Polidoro)
  • Quo Vadis (1985) – TV miniseries directed by Franco Rossi
  • Quo Vadis (2001) – Polish superproduction directed by Jerzy Kawalerowicz
  • Quo Vadis (2002) – TV six-part series following the main Polish production
  • Nero (2004) – AKA "Imperium: Nero", part of the Imperium series. Directed by Paul Marcus
  • Nero (Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire – Episode Two) (2006) – docudrama about reign of Nero
  • Horrible Histories: The Movie - Rotten Romans (2019) - Satiric Children's Film based on the Boudica Revolt

Boudica's Revolt

  • The Viking Queen (1967) – film loosely based on the revolt of Boudica
  • Warrior Queen (1978) – TV series about the revolt of Boudica
  • Boudica (2003) – film about the revolt of Boudica
  • Horrible Histories: The Movie - Rotten Romans (2019) - Satiric Children's Film based on the Boudica Revolt

Eruption of Mount Vesuvius

  • The Last Days of Pompeii (1913) – a silent film directed by Mario Caserini and Elioterio Rudolfi
  • The Last Days of Pompeii (1935)
  • The Last Days of Pompeii (1950) – French film (dir. by Paolo Moffa)
  • The Last Days of Pompeii (1959) – dir. by Mario Bonnard & Sergio Leone
  • Up Pompeii! (BBC TV Series) (1969–1970)
  • Up Pompeii (1971) – set in 79 AD, yet anachronistically shows Nero still reigning 10 years after his death (1971)
  • The Last Days of Pompeii (TV miniseries) (1984) – ABC-TV miniseries
  • Pompeii: The Last Day (2003)
  • Imperium: Pompeii (2007), part of the Imperium series.
  • The Fires of Pompeii (2008) – new Doctor Who series 4 ep. 2
  • Pompeii (2014) – a romantic disaster film directed by Paul W. S. Anderson

Flavian Dynasty

  • Masada (1981) – TV miniseries about the siege of Masada in the First Jewish-Roman War, dir. by Boris Sagal
  • The Apocalypse (2000) – telefilm about Jesus Christ's last surviving disciple and his writings and visions (dir. by Raffaele Mertes), starring Richard Harris as St John of Patras and Bruce Payne as Domitian
  • Colosseum: Rome's Arena of Death (2003) – BBC Television docudrama which tells the true story of Verus, a gladiator fighting at the Colosseum of Rome, during the reign of Titus
  • Rebellion (Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire – Episode Three) (2006) – docudrama about First Jewish–Roman War
  • Roman Mysteries (2007–2008) – ten-part TV series for youngsters, directed by Paul Marcus

85-110 AD

  • The Dacians (1967) – Romanian film about Domitian's Dacian War, with Pierre Brice as Septimius Severus (dir. by Sergiu Nicolaescu)
  • The Column (1968) – Romanian film about Trajan's Dacian Wars (dir. by Mircea Dragan)

Reign of Hadrian

  • The Eagle of the Ninth (1977) – a six-part BBC mini-series, based on the novel by Rosemary Sutcliff, starring Anthony Higgins
  • Centurion (2010) – an action film based on the massacre of the Ninth Legion, directed by Neil Marshall
  • The Eagle (2011) – adaption of the novel The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff, directed by Kevin Macdonald

Reign of Antoninus Pius

Reign of Commodus

250-272 AD

  • Sign of the Gladiator (1959) [known also as Sheba and the Gladiator] – about the Palmyrene Empire of queen Zenobia (starring Anita Ekberg) and its re-annexation back to Rome (dir. by Guido Brignone and Michelangelo Antonioni)
  • The Magnificent Gladiator (1964) – Italian film being a tale of a gladiator from the times of emperor Gallienus (dir. by Alfonso Brescia)

Reign of Diocletian

  • Sebastiane (1976) – homoerotical version of the legend of St Sebastian ; remarkable also as the first film entirely recorded in Latin

310-315 AD (Age of Constantine)

  • The Fighting Gladiators, or Fabiola (1949) – Italian film with Michèle Morgan
  • Constantine and the Cross (1962) – up to the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in AD 312, with Cornel Wilde as Constantine the Great
  • The Fall of Rome (1963) – an Italian peplum-film, the story based on persecution of Christians after the death of Emperor Constantine (dir. by Antonio Margheriti)
  • Constantine (Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire – Episode Five) (2006) – docudrama about the rise of Constantine

Attila the Hun

Late Empire

  • Revenge of the Barbarians (1960) – about the sack of Rome by the Visigoths in 410 AD (dir. by Giuseppe Vari)
  • Kampf um Rom I (1968) – on the struggle in Italy ruled by the Ostrogoths, after the novel by Felix Dahn (dir. by Robert Siodmak)
  • Kampf um Rom II : Der Verrat (1969) – continuation of the (above listed) German production
  • Thais (1984) – Polish film (dir. by Ryszard Ber), after a story by Anatole France on an episode from the life of the 4th-century Alexandria
  • Titus Andronicus (1985) – fictional story of a general in the Roman army, based on the tragedy by William Shakespeare; BBC TV version dir. by Jane Howell
  • Titus (1999) – adaptation by Julie Taymor with Anthony Hopkins as Titus Andronicus
  • King Arthur (2004)
  • The Voyage Home (2004) – based on the poem De reditu suo by Rutilius Claudius Namatianus
  • The Fall of Rome (Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire – Episode Six) (2006) – docudrama about the sack of Rome by Alaric's Visigoths
  • The Last Legion (2007) – loosely inspired by the 5th-century collapse of the Western Roman Empire and the legendary-fantastic elements from the history of Britain (dir. by Doug Lefler), with Colin Firth and Ben Kingsley
  • Agora (2009) – Spanish film (dir. by Alejandro Amenábar) with Rachel Weisz starring as Hypatia, a female philosopher and savant from Alexandria
  • Restless Heart: The Confessions of Saint Augustine (2010) – a biographical film about Augustine of Hippo, dir. by Christian Duguay
  • Decline of an Empire (2014) – about "the Christian saint who defied the Empire" (dir. by Michael Redwood), with Peter O'Toole as Cornelius Gallus (his last film role)

Undated

See also

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