In the wake of Gladiator (2000), Hollywood studios have been rushing to revisit the ancient world. No less than seven production companies have declared their intention to turn Alexander the Great into a wide-screen hero; Brad Pitt is about to appear as Achilles. This book explores the changing fortunes of the heroes of Greek myth and history in the melting pot of popular culture. Using little known examples, classicist and film-fan Gideon Nisbet charts the hidden history of Greece in twentieth-century imagination, from film to science fiction and comics. He unpacks the baggage of ides that continue to make ancient Greece hot property -- sometimes too hot for Hollywood to handle.
