The ancient world done "right"?

[a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Pharos_of_Alexandria.jpg]Okay, it's fanciful[/a] (and be careful, I just noticed there is a pair of bare buttocks!). However, are images like this (and more importantly, literature / documents that actually are from those times) not rather neat?

What I am looking for, for no real reason, is a game (one of the close up, high budget types) that captures this mood suggested by many artists describing those times.
The fanciful view of the real world 2200+ years ago seems a fantastic backdrop for a very good fantasy scenario. For some reason, this does not seem to happen.
Games set before 0 AD seem to just be overhead view city / civilization builders or war games.

It could be an interesting exploration for a game (or any other media, of course) to present a more close-up, 'human' perspective of these times which have so strongly shaped where we are now. I realize everything here (even in the written literature) is purely fanciful, really a view of the gods rather than the common person, but going from that same perspective is not a problem. (After all, a great deal of the meanings we accept today connect directly to those mythologies and to some real acts that seem to have inspired the mythology, or at least give light to its meanings).

God of War (PS2) was set around that era and was fantastic.

I'm assuming you're talking about a game where the artisitic view of, in this case, a 16th century artist is used to depict history from 2000 years ago.
Interesting idea but, other than an unusual graphical style, how would it affect gameplay?

Well, that's just a random example I had on hand showing the sort of style consistent with our views of those civilizations. (Probably influenced by the 14th century onward).
There was indeed lots of interesting architecture, and a big focus on powerful gods and goddesses (as can be gathered from the deep mythology), as well as how they interact with mortals (which is an interesting thing to build along).

darklands is the closest thing I can think of to this,
its certainly something worth thinking about.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darklands_%28computer_game%29

The picture referred to in the original post is great, I wish I could draw like that.

got any other links?

There was a 'myst' style adventure set in atlantis several years ago but i cant remember what it was called :/

The Windy Pathways and Big Center Cities remind me of House Telvanni in Morrowind

But then again, everything does.