Televising Ancient Rome in the Twenty-First Century

Ever since HBO-BBC’s Rome burst onto screens in 2005, Rome has appeared on television screens in a variety of dramatic productions. These utilise many of the elements of ancient Rome that were familiar to audiences from big screen epic movies, but adapt them for a television genre, in a manner that is characteristic of the the second millennium, playing on older tropes and merging them with new formats. Where do such tropes come from and how have they been developed over time specifically on the small screen, a medium that overlaps with, but is substantially different from, the cinema? How have the changes in technology and the manner in which television is consumed by audiences influenced the productions? Answering these questions and more, this book examines the presentation of ancient Rome in (primarily British and American) television productions of the twenty-first century, exploring not only how they depict the ancient world, but how the various programmes reflect aspects and concerns of contemporary society in which they are produced. Through a series of nine different case studies, it considers three main issues: the miniseries format as television epic; sexuality and gender in contemporary ancient Rome productions; and specific national contexts.