The clear message of the film is that white Europeans and so-called “western civilization” are good and that non-whites are evil barbarians who want to take away the freedom of white Europeans. In addition to pointing out some of the inaccuracies in the film, I would also like to point out that the film actually leaves out a lot of important later history that completely changes the narrative. I have filled my hear... About Us | Copyright Inquiry | Privacy Policy | Contact Us. He is depicted wearing heavy eyeliner and he goes around almost completely naked apart from his absurd amount of gold jewelry. the assembly of all male Spartiates over the age of eighteen years), and by the gerousia, a council of twenty-eight elders over the age of sixty who were elected by the apella for life. I’m surprised you didn’t mention the irony that the Persians were “Aryans” (hence “Iran”). Obviously, getting conquered in the ancient world was never a fun experience, but, if you had to be conquered by someone, the Achaemenid Persians were probably some of the best people in the ancient world you could pick to conquer you. What Did People in the Paleolithic Really Eat? David began the painting in 1799 and completed it in 1814. Sparta had two kings, who functioned as religious leaders and military commanders. You just have to pay attention to see it. My heart is broken for your loss. This is an idea that Frank Miller evidently got from the 1962 sword-and-sandal epic film The 300 Spartans, which was, by and large, generally less inaccurate than 300. Also, Thespians, Thebans, and helots do not seem to have the same mythic status that the Spartans do in popular culture, so people tend to forget about them. The Persians advanced southwards, conquering all of Phokis, Boiotia, and Attika. Thank you so much! Leonidas in particular is repeatedly implied to be an atheist and he is frequently chided as a “blasphemer” for not adhering to religious protocols. Even before the film came out, depictions of ancient Greek warriors fighting naked were already fairly common. In any case, while the movie 300 may be the most famous contemporary example of ancient Greeks being portraying fighting naked (or, rather, in Speedos), it is not the ultimate source of this misconception. Towards the end of the Corinthian War (lasted 395 – 387 BC), the Spartans formed an alliance with the Persians against an alliance of all the other major Greek city-states, including Athens, Thebes, Corinth, and Argos. 300 portrays the three hundred Spartans at Thermopylai as members of Leonidas I’s personal bodyguard. Consequently, most Greek city-states actually sided with the Persians. Ephialtes of Trachis is one of the characters in the film 300.. For instance, there is currently a question on Quora that asks, “How, if at all, could the Persians have won at the battle of Thermopylae?” The fact is, though, that the Persians did win at Thermopylai; they utterly defeated the Spartans and their allies, mutilated Leonidas I’s corpse, and conquered all of southern Greece up to the Isthmus of Corinth. Required fields are marked *. No sooner had the Persians been driven out of Europe than the Greeks began fighting against each other once again. According to Herodotos, the Thebans fought the Persians alongside the Spartans and Thespians for a while, but, when it became clear that they stood no chance of survival if they continued fighting, they surrendered to the Persians and were taken as prisoners. It is also essential to emphasize how incredibly limited Spartan citizenship was. Discover and share 300: Rise of an Empire Quotes. The deformed Ephialtes wants nothing more than to join the 300 Spartans in fighting off the Persians. Why do they do this? Finally, the 300 script is here for all you fans of the epic action-fest starring Gerard Butler and Lena Headey. ABOVE: Map from Wikimedia Commons showing the political situation in Greece during the Greco-Persian Wars. IS. Herodotos explicitly tells us in his Histories that a significant bulk of Xerxes I’s army was made up of Greeks from the northern regions of Thrake, Makedonia, and Thessalia. Furthermore, in historical reality, most of the people in Xerxes I’s army that the Greeks would have been fighting at Thermopylai weren’t ethnic Persians at all. The deformed Ephialtes wants nothing more than to join the 300 Spartans in fighting off the Persians. Not only were the historical ephors not “worthless remnants” of an older tradition, but they were probably actually relatively recent additions to the Spartan constitution in Leonidas I’s time. Why Is Hollywood So Fixated on Cleopatra Anyway? In other words, Herodotos clearly thought that some Persians were wise and that there were things the Greeks could learn from them. Ploutarchos implies that the introduction of the ephors was seen as a way to make the Spartan constitution somewhat more democratic while still maintaining both Spartan kings and other older aspects of the constitution.
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