The collected essays in this volume focus on the presentation, representation and interpretation of ancient violence – from war to slavery, rape and murder – in the modern visual and performing arts, with special attention to videogames and dance as well as the more usual media of film, literature and theatre. Violence, fury and the dread that they provoke are factors that appear frequently in the ancient sources. The dark side of antiquity, so distant from the ideal of purity and harmony that the classical heritage until recently usually called forth, has repeatedly struck the imagination of artists, writers and scholars across ages and cultures. A global assembly of contributors, from Europe to Brazil and from the US to New Zealand, consider historical and mythical violence in Stanley Kubrick's Spartacus and the 2010 TV series of the same name, in Ridley Scott's Gladiator, in the work of Lars von Trier, and in Soviet ballet and the choreography of Martha Graham and Anita Berber. Representations of Roman warfare appear in videogames such as Ryse: Son of Rome and Total War, as well as recent comics, and examples from both these media are analysed in the volume. Finally, interviews with two artists offer insight into the ways in which practitioners understand and engage with the complex reception of these themes.

This volume tackles the role of smell, under-explored in relation to the other senses, in the modern rejection, reappraisal and idealisation of antiquity. Among the senses olfaction in particular has often been overlooked in classical reception studies due to its evanescent nature, which makes this sense difficult to apprehend in its past instantiations. And yet, the smells associated with a given figure or social group convey a rich imagery which in turn connotes specific values: perfumes, scents and foul odours both reflect and mould the ways in which a society thinks or acts. Smells also help to distinguish between male and female, citizens and strangers, and play an important role during rituals. The Smells and Senses of Antiquity in the Modern Imagination focuses on the representation of ancient smells - both enticing and repugnant - in the visual and performative arts from the late 18th century up to the 21st century. The individual contributions explore painting, sculpture, literature and film, but also theatrical performance, museum exhibitions, advertising, television series, historical reenactment and graphic novels, which have all played a part in reshaping modern audiences' perceptions and experiences of the antique.

The Thrill of Ancient Violence: an Introduction / Irene Berti -- Part I. Ancient Violence in Modern and Contemporary Painting -- Ancient War and Modern Art: Some Remarks on Historical Painting from the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries / Antonio Duplá Ansuategui -- Violence to Valour: Visualising Thais of Athens / Alex McAuley -- Part II. Embodying Ancient and Modern Violence in Cinema and in Theatre -- Screening the Face of Roman Battle: Violence Through the Eyes of Soldiers in Film / Oskar Aguado -- Performing Violence and War Trauma: Ajax on Silver Screen / Anastasia Bakogianni -- External and Internal Violence within the Myth of Iphigenia: Staging Myth Today / Malgorzata Budzowska -- Kseni, the foreigner, a Brazilian Medea in action / Maria Cecilia de Miranda Nogueira Coelho -- Part III. Dancing Violence on the Ballet Stage -- Coreographies of Violence: Spartacus from the Soviet Ballet to the Global Stage / Zoa Alonso Fernández -- Iocaste's Daughters in Modernity: Anita Berber and Valeska Gert / Nicole Haitzinger -- Dark Territories of Soul: Martha Graham's Clytemnestra / Ainize González García -- Part IV. Violent Antiquity in Videogames and Comics -- Si vis ludum para bellum: Violence and War as Predominant Language of Antiquity in Video Games / David Serrano Lozano -- Waging TOTAL WAR playing ATTILA: A Video Game's Take on the Migration Period / Fabian Schulz -- Sexy Gory Rome: Juxtapositions of Sex and Violence in Comic Book Representations of Ancient Rome / Luis Unceta Gómez -- Archimedes and the War in Hitoshi Iwaaki's Eureka / Giuseppe Galeani -- Part V. Making Reception: Ancient Violence and Living History -- From Ancient Violence to Modern celebration: complex receptions of an ancient conquest wars in Las Guerras Cántabras festival / Jonatan Pérez Mostazo -- Drawing Reception / Maria G. Castello, Fabio Ruotolo -- Re-enacting soldiers and dressing Roman Women : An interview with Danielle Fiore / Carla Scilabra, Danielle Fiore.

Ancient Egypt has always been a source of fascination to writers, artists and architects in the West. This book is the first study to address representations of Ancient Egypt in the modern imagination, breaking down conventional disciplinary boundaries between fields such as History, Classics, Art History, Fashion, Film, Archaeology, Egyptology, and Literature to further a nuanced understanding of ancient Egypt in cultures stretching from the eighteenth century to the present day, emphasising how some of the various meanings of ancient Egypt to modern people have traversed time and media. Divided into three themes, the chapters scrutinise different aspects of the use of ancient Egypt in a variety of media, looking in particular at the ways in which Egyptology as a discipline has influenced representations of Egypt, ancient Egypt's associations with death and mysticism, as well as connections between ancient Egypt and gendered power. The diversity of this study aims to emphasise both the multiplicity and the patterning of popular responses to ancient Egypt, as well as the longevity of this phenomenon and its relevance today.