Atlas: A Sketch of the Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire
Atlas gives the viewer an overview of the rise and fall of the Roman Empire. Beginning in 500 BC, a time clock at the bottom of the screen marks off the years – eight to a second – as the boundaries on the animated map change, showing both the growth including the conquests of Alexander the Great, as well as the decrease as the power of the Romans declined. The film concludes with the invasion of the Huns and the sack of Rome in 476 AD. Music by David Spears.
2 minutes, 30 seconds
1976
Charles Eames: a “little sketch which gives in a very short amount of time an idea of what the rise and fall of the Roman Empire really looked like.”
“The making of the film was inspired by Charles’s fondness for the Penguin historical atlases, which contains maps of ancient and modern times. . . The film was essentially an experiment in the visual and organic depiction of the passage of time, a technique that Charles felt could be applied in films about many events and in many scientific disciplines. ” [EAMES DESIGN, page 430]
2 minutes, 30 seconds. Color.
Charles Eames: a “little sketch which gives in a very short amount of time an idea of what the rise and fall of the Roman Empire really looked like.”
1976
In Charles’s words, this 1976 film is a “little sketch which gives, in a very short amount of time, an idea of what the rise and fall of the Roman Empire really looked like.”
Charles always had a love for Penguin historical atlases. This film gave him and Ray the opportunity to experiment with visually charting historical events and the passage of time. Atlas begins in 500 B.C. and ends with the sack of Rome in A.D. 476.
The Eames Office made the film at the last minute to coincide with celebrations for the United States bicentennial. While this momentous historical event provided the impetus for the Atlas, the Eameses later learned that 1976 also marked the two-hundredth anniversary of Edward Gibbon’s book Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.
2 minutes, 30 seconds. Color.
