Sandals, Slaughter, and Sex

What is it that takes film-makers back repeatedly to the Mediterranean for their stories? Quite apart from the many biblical epics, we have been captivated by Charlton Heston’s Ben Hur, Kirk Douglas as Spartacus, Russell Crowe in Gladiator, and many films and programmes about the pyramids of Egypt. The BBC are making another blockbuster on Rome, Brad Pitt is recapturing Troy, and now Channel 4 are entering the fray with a blistering account of Carthage and the Punic Wars.

Carthage was a big city on the coast of North Africa, near the modern Tunis, originally settled by Phoenicians from Tyre. By the fifth century BC Carthage was one of the biggest and most important trading centres in the western Mediterranean, a rival especially of Syracuse and the other Greek city states on the island of Sicily.

Unfortunately there appeared a new set of bullies - the Romans – who were determined to take over the world. The Carthaginian general Hannibal brought off an incredible coup by marching a vast army and a herd of elephants from Spain, through southern France and over the alps into Italy to attack Rome from the rear. Even the elephants, however, did not stop the Romans, and finally the order went out from Rome Delenda est Carthago - Carthage must be destroyed - and the great city was razed to the ground.

Film makers have always, just like Shakespeare, looked for dramatic tales of lust, greed, vengeance, and heroism with which to captivate their audiences, and I guess that the time of the Roman empire was rich in such tales. But there must be some other reason for the endless interest in those brutal soldiers and administrators, who always did everything by the book, and ran a huge empire for several hundred years. Even my own little series What the Romans did for us has been repeated more than once, and also wittily chopped up (or ‘reversioned’ in technospeak) into five-, ten-, and fifteen-minute chunks, These miniprogrammes seem to go on and on, and appear whenever there is a gap to be plugged in the schedules. I only wish the BBC paid me repeat fees!

Why this fascination with Roman sandals, scandals, and sex? Is it those hairy legs? Is it because fighting with swords was simple and gladiatorial and one-to-one combat, whereas when guns arrived enemies could be mown down at a distance; so you never smelled your opponent’s sweat? Is it that the time is distant enough for us to accept massive simplification and fictionalisation of the stories, while we (wrongly) perceive that Victorian relationships, for example, were far more complex?

I don’t know the answer to that, but I do love the science and technology of the ancients, especially the Greeks, partly because that is where our own science and technology came from. Indeed I am working on a series of programmes about ancient science and technology, starting with the Greeks, which I hope will hit the screen in the autumn. I can’t promise much in the way of sandals or sex, but the ideas and inventions are wonderful.

Page last updated: Friday, 22 July 2005 22:35

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Sandals, Slaughter, and Sex