Jerusalem!
It could be a direct conversion from history, and would escape the boundaries you would encounter by operating through any historical 'masterpiece.' It's also about a struggle for culture, between two very different groups, and could easily be represented as a struggle that's more ideological, religious and cultural than simply a war of greed and politics. Such a battle maybe could be displayed as a hunger for an Artaudian style culture that includes and yet overrides the cultures of both of the two warring sides?
The gruesome physical horror of war is also trumped by the cruelty of the emotional pressure faced by the Jews under seige who (at least in one historical instance?) took their own lives rather than surrendered themselves and their ways of life.
Plus, I think Jewish music and ritual would fit the mould perfectly.