Podcast Summary: Le Cours de l’histoire

Episode: “L’histoire au cinéma 1/4 : Ben-Hur, l’Antiquité spectacle”

Host: Xavier Mauduit, France Culture
Date: 13 September 2025
Guests: Laurie Nuria-André (historian, author of Clash of the Classics, l’Antiquité dans le cinéma contemporain), Jean-Paul Thuillier (historian of antiquity, sport historian), audio archives with Paul Veyne and William Wyler

Main Theme / Purpose

The episode launches a four-part series on cinema’s depiction of history, focusing today on Ben-Hur as the spectacular embodiment of “the Ancient World.” Using the 1959 William Wyler film as a case study, the panel explores how ancient civilizations are represented (or misrepresented) in cinema, the sources and evolution of these representations, the persistence of clichés, political subtexts, and how today’s filmmakers confront or perpetuate these traditions.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Origins & Literary Roots of Ben-Hur

• The 1959 film is a famous adaptation of Lewis Wallace’s 1880 novel, a bestseller in the US by 1900.
• The context of its creation: 1880 is pivotal for both literature and archaeology (e.g., major digs at Troy) and reflects the growth of American interest in antiquity as a search for origins.
• Laurie Nuria-André notes:

  “Dans une culture naissante comme les États-Unis, s'emparer du substrat antique, construire ses origines, regarder au miroir de l'antique. C'est très tentant et ça explique sans doute ce succès phénoménal.” [02:33]

• The film’s fame has eclipsed its literary source, shaping public consciousness of the ancient world.

2. A Complex and Blended Antiquity

• Cinema often presents a “mélange” of “antiquities,” not a single unified “antiquity.”
• The film combines references to Judea, early Christianity, Greco-Roman relations, and more, often blurring distinct cultures and periods for dramatic effect.
• Laurie Nuria-André:

  “On parle de l'Antiquité mais ce n'est pas l'Antiquité, là ce sont les Antiquités.” [04:25]

3. Clichés and Cinematic Invention

• Many popular images of antiquity—gladiatorial combat, chariot races, despotic emperors—are clichés sustained by cinema and literature.
• Historian Jean-Paul Thuillier explains the confusion in French popular understanding:

  “Les jeux du cirque… en latin, ludic irkensis, c'est les jeux qui se passaient dans le cirque… ce sont des clichés qui ont la vie très dure.” [07:49]

• Cinema does not invent but amplifies and crystallizes these stereotypes.

4. Spectacle & Historical Distortion

• Wyler’s Ben-Hur magnifies the spectacle—gigantic sets, massive crowds, monumental violence.
• The chariot race, a centerpiece, is historically ambiguous (no circus in Jerusalem; the novel sets it in Antioch).
• Thuillier comments:

  “Ce sont des spectacles de ce point de vue, il y a effectivement des points communs. Mais c'est complètement différent…” [07:49]

• The demands of cinema (action, emotion, visualization) often outweigh historical fidelity.
• The persistence of gladiatorial and chariot race scenes in peplums parallels modern sport spectacles in the collective imagination.

5. Violence, the Body, and Social Mirrors

• Guests analyze the focus on violence, virility, and suffering bodies in peplums (Ben-Hur, Spartacus, etc.), relating them to both ancient practices and the concerns of the 1950s/60s.
• Laurie Nuria-André:

  “Quand on est sur le corps martyrisé, ensuite dans l'espace du cirque ou des jeux on est dans le corps spectacularisé… interrogation sur la virilité, le corps de l'homme, là on est sur autre chose.” [26:03]

• Cinema’s staging of male bodies, violence, and (suppressed) sexuality often reflects contemporary anxieties or cultural fantasies.
• Paul Veyne’s vivid (if contested) depiction of gladiatorial cruelty (audio archive) contrasts with Thuillier’s insistence on gladiators’ celebrity and statistical rarity of deaths.

6. Political and Religious Allegory

• Peplums, especially in the Hollywood tradition, often carry implicit political messages or mirror contemporary concerns—e.g., Ben-Hur as a tale of the chosen people or as an allegory for fascism and postwar identity.
• Noting the color symbolism in the film, Thuillier observes:

  “Judas Ben-Hur… porte des couleurs blanc et bleu… Tandis que Mésalah, qui est un méchant personnage, a une tunique noire et des chevaux noirs… ça renvoyait là au régime fasciste.” [34:33]

7. Contemporary Shifts and the Role of Historians

• There is now a more self-conscious effort in recent cinema and series (Gladiator, HBO’s Rome) to consult historians and achieve greater plausibility.
• Laurie Nuria-André:

  “On intègre de plus en plus le travail avec les historiens et les archéologues.” [19:48]

• Digital technology and shifting aesthetics further transform how antiquity is staged onscreen.

8. Gender, Diversity, and Evolving Narratives

• Older epics foreground hypermasculinity, but recent works introduce female characters (historically rare in Roman spectacles), reflecting contemporary interests in gender and diversity.
• Laurie Nuria-André mentions game culture:

  “Jeu vidéo à succès, Assassin's Creed… On peut choisir d'être une femme.” [43:36]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the crudeness of clichés:

  “Est-ce qu'une société, ça se résume à ça ? … Pourquoi notre société se plaît à retenir que ça ?”
  —Laurie Nuria-André [09:22]

• The attraction of spectacle:

  “Dans le péplum… les scènes de gladiature et les scènes de course de char… il y a une animation directe, une passion.”
  —Jean-Paul Thuillier [21:40]

• Industry insight:

  “William Wyler… avait fait spécifier dans son contrat… qu'il ne voulait pas diriger la mise en scène de la course de char.”
  —Jean-Paul Thuillier [24:45]

• The function of cinema:

  “L'histoire, c'est… la conscience, l'analyse, formidable, absolument nécessaire. Et puis le moment plaisir, celui du divertissement.”
  —Laurie Nuria-André [47:40]

• On the malleability of antiquity:

  “C'est de la pâte à modeler cette antiquité telle qu’elle est présentée dans la littérature populaire en l’occurrence et au cinéma.”
  —Jean-Paul Thuillier [38:42]

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:19–02:33: Introduction to Ben-Hur; origins of the novel and the “antiquity spectacle”
• 04:25–05:20: On the fusion of different ancient cultures in cinema; the “antiquities”
• 07:49–08:56: Gladiators vs chariot races; persistent misconceptions about Roman games
• 12:49–13:56: Paul Veyne on Roman cruelty (archival)
• 14:22–16:00: Thuillier corrects cliché of gladiator mortality and analyzes public attitudes
• 17:27–18:24: Historical inaccuracy of the chariot race set in Jerusalem
• 19:48–21:30: Evolution of the peplum, changes in historical accuracy and representation
• 24:07–24:45: William Wyler reminisces on the 1924 silent Ben-Hur
• 25:54–27:47: The centrality of the body and male suffering/virility in the genre
• 33:13–34:33: Cinematic liberties: aristocrats racing chariots, religious subtexts, American cultural context
• 41:09–42:24: Les Gladiatrices (1963); female agency in peplum and contemporary reinterpretations
• 46:35–47:40: Conclusion: allure of spectacle, legacy of Ben-Hur, a place for both analysis and pleasure

Flow and Tone

The discussion is lively, scholarly but accessible, blending humor, critical detachment, admiration for cinema, and reflection on what these films reveal about both ancient and modern societies. The hosts and guests skillfully alternate between debunking myths, delighting in cinematic excess, and interrogating the political or cultural stakes of representation.

In Summary

This episode unpacks how Ben-Hur and the tradition of the peplum both mirror and construct popular ideas of antiquity—a past as much invented as rediscovered, adapted to each era’s anxieties and dreams. From Hollywood’s search for origin myths to the persistence of gladiator and chariot race iconography, listeners are invited to marvel, critique, and reflect on what spectacles of the ancient world continue to say about us today.