James J. Clauss

Nikander of Kolophon

Nikander of Kolophon is the author of two extant poems: Theriaca and Alexipharmaca. Unfortunately, ancient testimony regarding his precise dates is contradictory. Keywords: ancient Greece; medicine; science

The Fall of the Roman Empire: film and history

expedience turned the imperial politics of the film on its head. Such rich details demonstrate the contingencies that informed the production of many of these films. If the book has a limitation, it is its brevity, which prevents it from exploring some of the issues surrounding these films as thoroughly as one might desire. Thus a single chapter on Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) ambitiously attempts to evaluate the imperial dimensions of all four Indiana Jones movies, as well as the episodes of the television series Young Indiana Jones. While insightful, the discussion only scratches the surface of these films (which were released over a span of nearly three decades). For example, it fails to mention one of the most remarkable images of the four films, the arrival of a British officer and a company of Sepoys to save Indiana Jones at the end of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984). But such omissions are probably unavoidable in a work that aspires to illuminate an entire film genre in barely 200 pages. This is film history at its best, produced by scholars with a mastery of these movies, the relevant historical literature, and their sources. The engaging writing makes it accessible to students, while its stimulating analysis makes it relevant to scholars. Its case study approach allows the authors to delve deeply into each film, rather than stringing together a series of superficial observations about all relevant titles in the genre. Its readings of the films, though at times brief, are invariably informed, insightful, and ultimately persuasive.