Gladiator

This Ridley Scott-directed epic – released in 2000 – is comfortably the best ancient world epic of recent times. Combining a tightly-written plot full of bloody revenge and political intrigue with a masterful opening battle sequence, hard-hitting gladiatorial dust-ups and some immaculate CGI shots of ancient Rome (including lengthy scenes in a digitally-restored Coliseum), it earned generally very positive reviews and won five Academy Awards.

Russell Crowe plays the gruff Roman general Maximus Decimus Meridius – a favourite of Emperor Marcus Aurelius – who sees his family slain by the Emperor’s psychotic son Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix). After escaping execution himself, he's forced to fight his way through a grand gladiatorial competition in Rome in order to get a shot at vengeance.

Gladiator did very well at the box office, grossing $457 million worldwide (making it the third biggest earning ancient world movie of all time). It even prompted the Hollywood historical epic to make a brief comeback, although that does mean it has to take the blame for Oliver Stone’s spectacular turkey Alexander.