How are Jesus and early Christianity portrayed on the big screen? To answer this question, Helen and Lloyd take a trip in the Biblical Time Machine with Dr Monica Cyrino, an expert on the reception of the classical world in film. Together, they explore 1950s classics such as Quo Vadis and The Robe, and see how these ‘epic Rome’ films are later parodied in Monty Python’s The Life of Brian.

Monica Silveira Cyrino is Professor of Classics at the University of New Mexico, specialising in classical reception studies. She is particularly well known for Big Screen Rome (Blackwell, 2005), a foundational textbook on Roman epic cinema.

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Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 produced by John Nelson.

From Nazareth to Hollywood

Biblical Time Machine