History Main / SwordandSandal

* ''Literature/TheSorcererOfTheWildeeps'', which seems heavily inspired by ''Literature/TheEpicOfGilgamesh'' and involves fantastic versions of AncientAfrica and AncientRome.

* ''Film/{{Maciste}} in King Solomon's Mines'' - a fusion of the Biblical Epic and AncientAfrica. Reg Park, of ''Film/HerculesAndTheCaptiveWomen'' fame, stars as Maciste.

A particular kind of PeriodPiece set in ancient [[BibleTimes biblical]] or [[TheTimeOfLegends mythological]] times, running the gamut from HeroicFantasy to HistoricalFiction. Movies set in UsefulNotes/TheRomanRepublic or UsefulNotes/TheRomanEmpire, or even in AncientGrome, are [[HollywoodHistory usually included]]. Alternatively, it may be used to describe FantasyCounterpartCulture equivalents in a secondary world.

* ''Film/DeuxHeuresMoinsLeQuartAvantJesusChrist''

** ''Fire Monsters Against the Son of Hercules'' (''Maciste vs. The Monsters'', actually more of a OneMillionBC type movie)

The subgenre of low-budget Sword And Sandal Italian films of the late '50s and early '60s is known as ''Peplum''. [[note]]The name comes from the ''peplos'', an Ancient Greek garment, a little like a toga, that became a mainstay of these movies' wardrobes.[[/note]] These films in particular tend to have the WorldsStrongestMan as the hero (often Hercules, but not necessarily). Much like the {{spaghetti western}}s that followed them, pepla tend to star non-Italian, Anglophonic leading actors ([[NonActorVehicle if they're actors at all]]) alongside an Italian supporting cast. If an Anglophonic lead could not be secured and they had to cast a fellow Italian, he'd take on an English pseudonym - Sergio Ciani, for example, became Alan Steel. These movies also tended to get [[MarketBasedTitle wildly different titles]] when released outside their home country, to the point where [[DolledUpInstallment entire franchises can be fashioned out of what were originally stand-alone movies]]. The term "peplum" can also refer to a second wave of Italian fantasy films that came out in the 1980s, though not all of these were SwordAndSandal movies, instead being SwordAndSorcery films [[FollowTheLeader overtly modeled]] on ''Film/ConanTheBarbarian1982''. Sandals or not, the '80s pepla tended to be [[DarkerAndEdgier grimmer]], [[BloodierAndGorier more violent]], and [[HotterAndSexier sleazier]] than their relatively family-friendly forebears.

* ''Literature/SamsonAndDelilah'' (1949)

The subgenre of low-budget Sword And Sandal Italian films of the late '50s and early '60s is known as ''Peplum'' [[note]]The name comes from the ''peplos'', an Ancient Greek garment, a little like a toga, that became a mainstay of these movies' wardrobes[[/note]]. These films in particular tend to have the WorldsStrongestMan as the hero (often Hercules, but not necessarily). Much like the {{spaghetti western}}s that followed them, pepla tend to star non-Italian, Anglophonic leading actors ([[NonActorVehicle if they're actors at all]]) alongside an Italian supporting cast. If an Anglophonic lead could not be secured and they had to cast a fellow Italian, he'd take on an English pseudonym - Sergio Ciani, for example, became Alan Steel. These movies also tended to get [[MarketBasedTitle wildly different titles]] when released outside their home country, to the point where [[DolledUpInstallment entire franchises can be fashioned out of what were originally stand-alone movies]]. The term "peplum" can also refer to a second wave of Italian fantasy films that came out in the 1980s, though not all of these were SwordAndSandal movies, instead being SwordAndSorcery films [[FollowTheLeader overtly modeled]] on ''Film/ConanTheBarbarian1982''. Sandals or not, the '80s pepla tended to be [[DarkerAndEdgier grimmer]], [[BloodierAndGorier more violent]], and [[HotterAndSexier sleazier]] than their relatively family-friendly forebears.

* ''Film/HerculesAndTheCaptiveWomen'' (also known as "Hercules And The Conquest Of Atlantis"). Introduced British bodybuilder Reg Park as Hercules, who travels to a proto-[[ANaziByAnyOtherName fascistic]] {{Atlantis}} to prevent the prophecied destruction of all Greece. Was also featured on ''Mystery Science Theater 3000''.

** ''Hercules the Avenger''. Hercules (Park again) travels to the Underworld, mostly via StockFootage from ''Captive Women'' and ''Haunted World'', to save his son Xanthus, whose mind has been stolen by the wicked earth goddess Gaia. Meanwhile, a fellow demigod - Gaia's son Anteus, a rival for the title of WorldsStrongestMan - has assumed Hercules' name back in the land of the living and is terrorizing the people of Syracuse.

* ''WesternAnimation/VeggieTales'', but only in the episodes that reenact Biblical events, and huge liberties are taken, such as, you know, making David a talking asparagus and things like that

* ''Film/TheSevenMagnificentGladiators'', which, at the title suggests, is TheMagnificentSevenSamurai but set in Roman times. It stars Creator/LouFerrigno and Creator/SybilDanning. Part of the peplum revival of the 1980s which followed the success of ''Film/ConanTheBarbarian1982''.

[[AC:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/{{Barbarians}}''
* ''Series/{{Britannia}}''
* ''Series/TheCaesars''
* ''Series/IClaudius''
* ''Series/{{Masada}}''
* ''Series/{{Rome}}''
* ''Series/SpartacusBloodAndSand''

* ''Film/{{Barbarians}}''

* ''Theatre/TheOrestia''

* ''Literature/TheIliad'' and ''TheOdyssey'' by Homer.

[[ AC:Live-Action TV]]

[[ AC:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/TheCleopatras''

* ''Moses the Lawgiver''

* ''WesternAnimation/TestamentTheBibleInAnimation

** ''Film/HerculesInTheHauntedWorld'' - Another with Reg Park as Herc. Director Creator/MarioBava, best known for his very stylized horror movies, brings kind of a DarkFantasy tone to this movie, with a very vivid depiction of [[FireAndBrimstoneHell the Underworld]]. Creator/ChristopherLee, another horror icon, plays the villain.

** ''Film/Hundra'' - based on the myth of the Amazons