Explore

← The Annals

A period of history · Age · about Political

Films & Shows Set during Hellenistic Period

Runs from323 BCE31 BCE292 years wide

Shelfmark Liber CXXXII

Classical World

8
titles
7 films · 1 series (4 eps)
3.1/5
average rating
across 8 rated titles
89%
of the span is tagged
8 of 9 titles set inside it

See Hellenistic Period on the timelineEvery year from 323 BCE to 31 BCE the archive holds, and what is set in them

Compare the titles of Hellenistic Period in the CanonsWhat every title on it shares, what two or three share, and what is proper to one

The Chronicle

The events and themes the archive follows through Hellenistic Period, in the order they happened, each with the titles that depict it. Press a name to read about it in the threads below.

  1. 500 BCE–232 BCE
    Spread of BuddhismReligious
  2. 331 BCE
    Battle of GaugamelaMilitary

    The second battle between Alexander the Great and Darius III of the Achaemenid Empire and the conclusive final blow which left the path open for Alexander to complete his…

  3. 326 BCE
    Battle of the HydaspesMilitary
  4. 261 BCE
    Kalinga WarMilitary
  5. 213 BCE–212 BCE
    Siege of SyracuseMilitary

    The siege of the Hellenic city of Syracuse on the island of Sicily by Roman proconsul and general Marcus Claudius Marcellus during the 2nd Punic War.

  6. 52 BCE
    Battle of AlesiaMilitary

    A decisive victory by Julius Caesar against the confederation of tribes led by Vercingetorix, concluding the Gallic Wars and bringing Gaul under complete Roman occupation.

  7. 133 BCE–27 BCE
    Fall of the Roman RepublicPolitical
  8. 44 BCE
    Assassination of Julius CaesarPolitical
  9. 42 BCE
    Battle of PhilippiMilitary
  10. 31 BCE
    Battle of ActiumMilitary

    The pivotal naval engagement between the forces of Octavian and the combined navy of Mark Antony and Cleopatra VII off the coast of Actium in Greece.

Cinematic Introduction

Every title set during Hellenistic Period, by the decade it came out. A series is placed on the chart by its first season and counts as one title entity.

First on screen
Julius Caesar1953
Most recent
Rome2005

FilmsSeriesAt the archive’s paceeach bar is the titles released that decade

The median title about Hellenistic Period came out in 1962; the median across the rest of the archive, in 2004, so this period’s titles run 42 years earlier. Most over-told: the 1960s, with 3 titles where about 0.9 would be expected. Most under-told: the 2010s, with none where about 2.4 would be expected.

The gold dashes are how many of this period’s 8 titles each decade would hold if they had been released at the same pace as the other 283 dated titles in the archive. That measures the archive’s own collecting, not the world’s film output, and at these sizes one title moves a bar by a whole step.

Historical Threads

A thread follows one event or historical theme across the archive, wherever and whenever it appears. Pick a tab to read one; they are in the order they are filed on the timeline. Pulling a thread opens up a narrowed timeline view filtered to every year that thread touches.

Siege of Syracusepull it on the timeline

Event

The siege of the Hellenic city of Syracuse on the island of Sicily by Roman proconsul and general Marcus Claudius Marcellus during the 2nd Punic War. The extended beleaguerment was made famous by the unique and unconventional city defenses devised by resident inventor, Archimedes, which inflicted heavy casualties on the Roman invaders prior to the city's fall.

filed under 213 BCE

Also runs throughSecond Punic War

Battle of Alesiapull it on the timeline

Event

A decisive victory by Julius Caesar against the confederation of tribes led by Vercingetorix, concluding the Gallic Wars and bringing Gaul under complete Roman occupation. The battle was made famous by Caesar's siege tactics, wherein, while Vercingetorix's forces within the city of Alesia waited for a relief army to attack the Roman force keeping them trapped, Caesar, instead of breaking the siege, built two sets of defenses at once, one to pin Vercingetorix within Alesia and another to repel his reinforcements. The Romans were able to defeat both forces from within the two sets of defensive barriers.

filed under 52 BCE

Also runs throughCrisis of the Roman RepublicGallic Wars

Battle of Actiumpull it on the timeline

Event · Part of Fall of the Roman Republic

The pivotal naval engagement between the forces of Octavian and the combined navy of Mark Antony and Cleopatra VII off the coast of Actium in Greece. After suffering badly at the hands of a surrounding Roman force, Antony's forces were routed, fleeing to Egypt where they were ultimately defeated at Alexandria, spurring Antony and Cleopatra to take their own lives and paving the way for Octavian's ascendance as Augustus, first Emperor of the Roman Empire.

2 titles set here · filed under 31 BCE

Also runs throughCrisis of the Roman Republic3Pax Romana

Places Connected to this Period

Every place the archive’s titles set in this period name, with each one nested under the larger place it sits inside where that place is here too. The number is how many titles set here name it.

Saltiness Across the Period

No title set here has been given a saltiness score yet. That is unrated, which is not the same as accurate.

Archive Density

89%8 of the 9 titles the archive sets between 323 BCE and 31 BCE carry the Hellenistic Period tag.

This measure can help illustrate cinematic hotspots within a time period by comparing which years of the overarching, actual historical time period are backed up by a cinematic release.

  1. 323 BCE1 of 1
  2. 285 BCE1 of 1
  3. 268 BCE1 of 1
  4. 261 BCE1 of 1
  5. 256 BCEnothing set here
  6. 227 BCE0 of 1
  7. 221 BCEnothing set here
  8. 218 BCEnothing set here
  9. 213 BCE1 of 1
  10. 212 BCEnothing set here
  11. 202 BCEnothing set here
  12. 201 BCEnothing set here
  13. 135 BCEnothing set here
  14. 133 BCEnothing set here
  15. 73 BCE1 of 1
  16. 71 BCE1 of 1
  17. 58 BCEnothing set here
  18. 52 BCE1 of 1
  19. 50 BCE1 of 1
  20. 49 BCE1 of 1
  21. 48 BCE1 of 1
  22. 44 BCE2 of 2
  23. 42 BCE1 of 1
  24. 31 BCE2 of 2

24 years on the timeline fall inside the boundaries, 9 of them with nothing set there yet. The filled part of each bar is the share carrying this period.

Share of the 27 genre taggings across 8 titles set in this period. A title filed under three genres is in three of these slices, so this is a share of taggings rather than of titles.

Credits

Directors

1Joseph L. Mankiewicz2 titles3.6/5unsalted2Arnaldo Genoino1 title2.0/5unsalted3Oliver Stone1 title2.8/5unsalted4Pietro Francisci1 title2.0/5unsalted5Santosh Sivan1 title3.1/5unsalted6Stanley Kubrick1 title3.9/5unsalted7Viktor Tourjansky1 title2.0/5unsalted

Films only. Co-directors are counted individually, so a director’s solo work and their collaborations are grouped together. Average saltiness ignores any title still unsalted.

Networks

1HBO1 title4.0/5unsalted

Series only, counted once each however many episodes carry the period. Average saltiness ignores any title still unsalted.

Myths Common to this Time Period

Gathered from the titles set during this period that the archive has tagged with a myth, whether they repeat it or reject it.

  • The Free for All Fight

    The record: Armies from antiquity until past the Napoleonic period fought in formation because individual soldiers are vulnerable. Battles were usually contests between blocks of men holding together, and the side whose formation broke first usually lost. Further, maintaining clear formations was essential to maintaining battlefield operations and communication, both for commanders to be able to give orders to their subordinate officers as well as for individual soldiers to know where to rally and position themselves.

    Rejected by 1 title: Rome

    Methods and Tactics

Also on the Timeline

Periods overlap freely so concurrent means the two spans share years, and the shared stretch is named. Bounded means it lies wholly inside this one, beginning and ending more than 10 years within its boundaries. Before and after are the nearest periods lying outside this one, with the gap in years shown instead. A shared thread is what the two have in common besides the calendar, and a period lying wholly outside this one can still share one.

RelationPeriodRunsShared yearsShared threadsTitles
BeforeWars of Alexander336 BCE–323 BCE323 BCEBattle of GaugamelaBattle of the Hydaspes1
ConcurrentWarring States Period475 BCE–221 BCE323 BCE–221 BCEnone shared2
BoundedSecond Punic War218 BCE–201 BCE218 BCE–201 BCESiege of Syracuse1
BoundedServile Wars135 BCE–71 BCE135 BCE–71 BCEnone shared1
ConcurrentCrisis of the Roman Republic133 BCE–27 BCE133 BCE–31 BCEAssassination of Julius CaesarBattle of ActiumBattle of AlesiaBattle of PhilippiFall of the Roman Republic5
BoundedGallic Wars58 BCE–50 BCE58 BCE–50 BCEBattle of AlesiaFall of the Roman Republic1
AfterPax Romana27 BCE–1804 years laterBattle of ActiumFall of the Roman Republic9