IDS 101: Ancient Greece and Rome in the Movies: Videos & Websites

Lists films set in the city of Rome during the Roman Kingdom, the Roman Republic, or the Roman Empire.

A database that provides videos with curricular relevance: documentaries, interviews, performances, news programs and newsreels, and more.

Video program about Ancient Greeks.

Video program about Ancient Greeks.

When Roman generals Pompey and Crassus lead their mighty legions of soldiers and mercenaries into the lands surrounding Italy, neither anticipates the turmoil caused by one bold mercenary.

Julius Caesar attempts to annex Gaul and build his reputation while the empire churns with civil war.

Click on Clips to see sections:
Founding of Rome (5 min)
Etruscan Kings of Rome (4 min 30 sec)
Early Roman Republic (4 min 6 sec)
The Roman Military (5 min 38 sec)
Roman Civil Engineering (5 min 17 sec)
Roman Religion (4 min 29 sec)
Life in Ancient Rome (5 min 32 sec)
The First Punic War (2 min 25 sec)
The Second and Third Punic Wars (5 min 55 sec)

Click on Clips to see sections:
Julius Caesar (6 min 8 sec)
The Rise of Augustus (4 min 5 sec)
Ancient Roman Society (6 min 44 sec)
The Roman Colosseum (3min 57 sec)
Pompeii and Herculaneum (7 min 35 sec)
The Fall of Rome (3 min 48 sec)

The play opens as the Watchman at King Agamemnon's palace sees the beacon that announces the fall of Troy. The chorus of Old Men tell the background to the story of the Trojan War. When Agamemnon returns home after a 10-year absence...

The play opens as Orestes, Agamemnon's son, returns from exile. His sister Electra and the Chorus of Trojan Women come to offer libation at the tomb. ..., Orestes and Pylades enter Agamemnon's palace ... Threatened by the Furies, he flees to seek Apollo's help.

In this drama which concludes the Oresteia, the goddess Athena is called upon to decide whether Orestes is to be punished ... or whether his life should be spared, thus ending the cycle of bloody retribution.

The Shakespearean Festival Players, (Stratford, Canada) speaking through Greek masks, present the tragedy of Oedipus...

Starring Zoe Caldwell, Medea; Judith Anderson, the nurse. Filmed at the Eisenhower Theatre, Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

A rich Egyptian goes to the temple and leaves a generous offering, then he closes the doors of the sacred place and goes away. By Georges Méliès.

Ulysses, stranded on the island of Calypso, fights the the most famous of the giant Cyclopes. By Georges Méliès.

Emperor Justinian is hosting a party, and, for the entertainment of his court, he has three victims of his choice tied to stakes, which are then set on fire. By Georges Méliès.

The dissolute Emperor Heliogabalus dresses as a woman, and looses lions among his guests. By Louis Feuillade.

Italian silent short film directed by Giovanni Pastrone and Luigi Romano Borgnetto.

Giuseppe de Liguoro 's adaptation of Homer's The Odyssey.

An Italian film directed by Enrico Guazzoni, based on the 1896 novel by Henryk Sienkiewicz.

English version of film directed by Enrico Guazzoni

Silent Italian epic which introduced the prolific Maciste character and was an inspiration to other great silent films like Intolerance and Metropolis.

Four separate stories are interwoven: the fall of Babylon, the death of Christ, the massacre of the Huguenots, and a contemporary drama

Reconstructed trailer for lost film starring Theda Bara, who is on the mural on the Elsinore Theater in Salem, Oregon. Here's a fragment of this lost film.

Starring Buster Keaton. At three different periods, Prehistory, Roman times and contemporary California, a man tries to win the heart of a woman.

Our Gang must act in the upcoming school play set in ancient Rome, while garbed in an array of silly outfits.

A cartoon based on Greek Mythology.

After being ordered by Emperor Nero to find a victim to be tossed to the lions, Yosemite Sam tries to capture Bugs Bunny.

BBC Studios

Broadway Digital Archive

Actors of Dionysus

BBC

BBC

East Productions

L.A. Theatre Works

A young Cleopatra meets a middle-aged Julius Caesar, who teaches her how to rule Egypt. Based on the play by George Bernard Shaw.

Describes the last few days of the life of the Catholic martyr St. Sebastian, in particular his relationship with the Emperor Diocletian in 303 A.D. (In Latin, English subtitles)

Royal Shakespeare Company

Royal Shakespeare Company

East Productions

Royal Shakespeare Company

All Female Production.

All Black British cast

Stratford Festival

Royal Shakespeare Company

Stratford Festival

Royal Shakespeare Company