Book excerpt: Saluting gestures in Roman art and literature -- Jacques-Louis David's Oath of the Horatii -- Raised-arm salutes in the United States before fascism : from the pledge of allegiance to Ben-Hur on stage -- Early cinema : American and European epics -- Cabiria : the intersection of cinema and politics -- Gabriele d'Annunzio and Cabiria -- Fiume : the Roman salute becomes a political symbol -- From D'Annunzio to Mussolini -- Nazi cinema and its impact on Hollywood's Roman epics : from Leni Riefenstahl to Quo vadis -- Visual legacies : antiquity on the screen from Quo vadis to Rome -- Cinema : from Salome to Alexander -- Television : from Star trek to Rome -- Conclusion.