Spartans, spears and skin--Oh my!

by Jennifer Johnson
The Collegian
Issue date: 3/1/07

The fiction:

In a style reminiscent of Robert Rodriguez' 2005 smash hit, Sin City, another Frank Miller comic comes to the big screen in the form of 300, about the titular-numbered group of Spartans and their King facing an army of more than a quarter-million invading Persians in the ancient battle of Thermopylae.

The depiction of one of history's most heroic battles is essentially a highly stylized blood-bath with heart-thumping action and biting one-liners ("Tonight, we dine in hell!"), some of which are essentially historically accurate ("Then we will fight in the shade!", being the response to the enemy's arrows being so numerous that their launch will block out the sun).

300 is departure for the lead, Phantom of The Opera's Gerard Butler, who spends most of the movie being fierce and bearded in a cape and loin cloth while portraying the Spartan King Leonidas.

The film is dark and bold, with stunning special effects and sweeping battle scenes. It's got an R-rating for sexuality and its abundant violence and gore, so be sure to leave the little ones at home.

The fact:

In 480, at the pass at Thermopylae, Greek soldiers gathered to defend their city-states from a Persian army almost 35 times its size.

The narrow, rocky terrain was Greece's best defense and for three days, beat back invading forces at this point.

On the third and final day of battle, the Greeks were betrayed by the local shepherd Ephialtes, who showed the forces of the Persian King Xerces an alternate route over the rocky terrain that lead to the rear of the Greek's position.

Upon finding his men nearly surrounded, King Leonidas, his 300 Spartans (and a handful of Thespians and Thebans) covered the retreat of Greek forces southward where allies were building defenses.

Sacrificing themselves in battle, the elite Spartans killed scores more Persians before falling to the enemy's arrows. The body of the Spartan King was found among the corpses of his men.

Though the battle was lost, Greek forces at the sea battle of Salamis and in the next year at Plataea, used 'Thermopylae' as their war-cry and defeated the Persians.



Editor's note: This article ran with fiction and fact side-by-side.