Unlike the other Italian peplum protagonists, Maciste appeared in a variety of time periods ranging from the Ice Age to 16th Century Scotland. Maciste was never given an origin, and the source of his mighty powers was never revealed. However, in the first film of the 1960s series, he mentions to another character that the name "Maciste" means "born of the rock", as if he were a god who would appear out of the earth itself in times of need. One of the 1920s silent Maciste films was entitled "The Giant from the Dolomite", suggesting that Maciste may be more god than man, which would explain his great strength. The first title listed for each film is the film's original Italian title along with its English translation, while the U.S. release title follows in bold type in parentheses (Maciste's name in the Italian title is usually altered to an entirely different name in the American title):   In 1973, the Spanish cult film director Jesús Franco directed two low-budget "Maciste" films for French producers: "Maciste contre la Reine des Amazones" ("Maciste vs the Queen of the Amazons") and "Les exploits érotiques de Maciste dans l'Atlantide" ("The Erotic Exploits of Maciste in Atlantis"), both starring Wal Davis as Maciste. The films have almost identical casts and appear to have been shot back-to-back. Despite their titles, the plots were totally unrelated to the 1960s Italian Maciste series. Maciste was presented as a 16th-century French adventurer who travels overseas to exotic lands. "Maciste contre la Reine des Amazones" was distributed in Italy as a "Karzan" film (a Tarzan imitation), while "Les exploits érotiques de Maciste dans l'Atlantide" was released, also in France, in a second version with hardcore pornographic inserts entitled "Les Gloutonnes" (literally: "The Gobblers").