Cartoon Representations of Greece, Rome and Beyond by Chiara Sulprizio
Released in North America as Reign: The Conqueror and in Europe as Alexander the Great, this series of thirteen 30-minute episodes is a super stylized sci-fi retelling of the life of the Macedonian ruler. It is based on a light novel written in the 1990s by Hiroshi Aramata. Famed animator Peter Chung (who created MTV animated series Aeon Flux) developed the character and set design. The first ten episodes were also recut into a film in 2000.
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Director: Yury Prytkov.
An educational story of time travel: Kolya and Olya visit the ancient city of Syracuse, where they meet with the great methematician and inventor Archimedes. He shows them some of his wonderful inventions and then they work to repel an attack of the Romans, and then return back home safely.
Fyodor Khitruk, no subtitles, 19 min.
From IMDB: “This is a somewhat ironic, but very informative story about the origin, development and decline of the Greek Olympiad tradition, set out with the help of an off-screen commentary read by Z. Gerdt. Ancient history is described in great detail and exciting. In the graphic decision, artists were guided by the ancient Greek monuments, first of all – vase paintings, stylized for them and characters, and decorations, up to imitation cracks. In the film there are a lot of full-scale shots, and in particular it is interesting to frame the photographs of the bas-reliefs of the Pergamon altar shot by Yuriy Norshtein. The film ends with documentary shots of the opening of the Olympics-80 in Moscow.”
See also: The 1981 film “O Sport – You are Peace!”, a documentary about the opening and closing ceremonies of the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, for which much of the animation featured here was originally produced, but not used.
A 30-minute made for TV movie starring Bill Cosby as Aesop, produced by Lorimar Productions. Live-action interspersed with animated segments featuring the stories “The Tortoise and the Eagle” and “The Tortoise and the Hare.”
In 1990-91, Cosby would play Aesop again in a series of six 30-minute films, each featuring one animated fable.
Bugs Bunny inspired
No dialogue
From Fantoche: “Life is not simple for the small Minotaur with Medusa for a mother. Her enraged look turns everything to stone, which makes the search for a father problematic in this fantasy cartoon full of characters from Greek mythology.”
Czech Republic
Script, art design, animation, directed by: Alexandra Hetmerová
Sound: Jan Šléška
Music: Jindřich Čížek
Edit: Darina Moravčíková
Producer: FAMU
2D computer animation, 16:9, stereo, 12 min
This film is the product of a scriptwriting competition for UK secondary schools sponsored by the University of Kent and overseen by Ray Laurence (who also narrates the film). Kien Powell wrote the winning script in 2016 and it was produced by Kent animation student Malachi James in 2017. The film explores the unequal social relations between a young client and his patron with a special focus on the role that food plays in the patronage system. James was inspired by the style of famed 1970s animation studio Hanna-Barbera in his rendering of this story.
This short educational short film was written and narrated by Ray Laurence and produced by Cognitive Media for Ted-Ed Animation. It introduces us to life through the eyes of Lucius Popidius Secundus, a 17-year old living in Rome in 73 AD, and explores Roman social practices such as arranged marriages, coming of age rituals and communal bathing. This was the first of many film collaborations between Laurence and Cognitive, on topics both ancient (see also “Four Sisters in Ancient Rome) and modern (see “How Immigration Shaped Britain”). It has been viewed over 8 million times!
From the series “The Story of Britain”
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/08/dna-romans/535701/
See also: https://www.bbc.com/teach/class-clips-video/story-of-britain-roman-invasion/zmyhf4j
Animated Antiquity 