Epic Heroes on Screen

Antony Augoustakis is Professor of Classics at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA. His research focuses on Imperial Latin literature of the first century CE, especially the role of gender and the representation of death and ritual in epic poetry. He has also published several book chapters on the representation of classical antiquity on film and television. He is the editor of Classical Journal. Stacie Raucci is Associate Professor of Classics at Union College in Schenectady, New York. Her academic research focuses on Roman elegy, Roman topography, and the reception of the ancient world in popular culture. She is the author of Elegiac Eyes: Vision in Roman Love Elegy (Peter Lang 2011) and co-author of Rome: A Sourcebook on the Ancient City (Bloomsbury 2018).

• Series Editors’ PrefaceEditors’ AcknowledgmentsContributorsList of IllustrationsIntroduction: The Reinvention of the Ancient Hero, Antony Augoustakis and Stacie RaucciPart I: Hercules1. Hercules and the Millennial Generation, Jon Solomon2. Hercules – The Mythopoetics of New Heroism, Alastair J. L. Blanshard3. Hercules, Putin, and the Heroic Body on Screen in 2014, Emma Stafford4. Heroes and Companions in Hercules (2014), Angeline Chiu5. Sacrifice and Salvific Heroism in Supernatural (2005-), Meredith E. SafranPart II: Epic Heroes6. Russell Crowe and Maximal Projections in Noah (2014), Monica S. Cyrino7. The Immortality of Theseus and his Myth, Margaret Toscano8. The Changing Faces of Heroism in Atlantis (2013-15), Amanda Potter9. Xena: Warrior, Heroine, Tramp, Anise K. Strong10. Divergent Heroism in Centurion (2010), Hunter H. GardnerPart III: Antiheroes11. The Hero in a Thousand Pieces: Antiheroes in Recent Epic Cinema, Daniel Curley12. Trouble in the Tehran Multiplex: Xerxes, 300 and 300 Rise of an Empire in Iran, Lloyd Llewellyn Jones13. Ancient (Anti)Heroes on Screen and Ancient Greece Post-9/11, Vincent Tomasso14. Making Modern (Anti)Heroes, the Ancient Way, Alex McAuley

Damaged males and empowered females: the epic protagonists of this collection, including Dwayne Johnson and Vladimir Putin, show the increasing dark tones used to depict heroism in the new millennium. Constant references to the story of Hercules show the continuing, yet mutating influence of classical myth.