JEFFREY RICHARDS is Professor of Cultural History at Lancaster University, UK. His most recent books are Hollywood's Ancient Worlds (2008), Sir Henry Irving: a Victorian Actor and His World (2005) and Imperialism and Music (2001). His jointly authored work John Ruskin and the Victorian Theatre (with Katherine Newey) is forthcoming from Palgrave Macmillan.

• Foreword The Victorians and the Ancient World The Early Victorian Actor-Managers and the Ancient World Living Greek Statues Wilson Barrett's Ancient World Irving's Ancient World Tree's Ancient World The Toga Play: Climax and Decline Notes Index