Sparta Vs 300 Essay

Herodotus and Zac Snyder have at least one thing in common: they both portray the ancient Persians in very unflattering terms. The grim, ghastly, almost monstrously barbaric (yet weirdly effeminate) features of the Persian leader Xerxes is one of the most visually arresting elements of Snyder's film 300 (based on a graphic novel by Frank Miller). How historically accurate is the film? Considering the fact that Snyder shot almost the entirety of the film on a soundstage because the film's "landscapes are different than in real life. They don't exist in the real world, only in Frank Miller's imagination," one might be tempted to say not very. Yet, there are elements of the film that do correspond to the historical Battle of Thermopylae in a way. This paper will compare and contrast Snyder's film 300 with the real history of the battle between Spartans and Persians and show why Snyder's film is more fantasy than reality.

In Herodotus’ version, it is said that only 300 men fought from Sparta while 2.1 million Persians have fought. As you can see, this is exaggerated. Exaggeration allowed the audience to perceive the Spartans as well-trained, clearly the highest warrior society in Greece and their Phalanx formation to be powerful. In Snyder’s version, Spartans are bathed in bright lighting allowing them to be put in in a good light. Also when we see some shots eg.

Overall, the movie 300 portrays the Spartan faction as the heroes in the movie. This is the reasoning behind the ritual of becoming a man in the movie depicted as a battle between warrior and wolf, as opposed to the truth of killing a helot or slave. In fact, the subject of Spartans coming from a slave society, is overlooked, and instead the Spartans are gifted with the intention of liberating the world in 300.

The population is around 100,000 people, as a matter of fact most of these people are descendents of the Dorian invaders. They are divided into 3 main groups: the Spartans, the Helots, and the Perioeci. Spartan culture was centered on loyalty to the state and the military service. Sparta’s greatest enemy were the Athens, who they later defeat in the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC.). In contrast, Sparta’s defeat by the Thebes in the Battle of Leuctra in 371 BC ended Sparta’s Prominent role in Greece.

The story of 300 is told by a Spartan, named Aristodemus, who was sent away by Leonidas before the final battle. (Link 1) Aristodemus tells the other Spartans the story just before the battle of Plataea, where a united Greek force annihilated the Persian army. The whole story is propaganda to make the Spartans seem like heroes and the Persians like evil monsters. The implication is that much of it is exaggerated for dramatic effect so the soldiers would fight harder. (Link 2)

Zack Snyder, the director of 300, which is based on the historical battle of Thermopylae. The movie does have a lot of truth. It is true that there was an epic battle at Thermopylae where King Leonidas of Sparta took 300 soldiers, all with a male heir at home, into the ‘Hot Gates’ where they held the Persian army for three days. Xerxes did have an army of 10,000 men called the Immortals. Ephialtes, he is the one who betray Greece by showing Xerxes men the path that allowing them to surround the 300 soldiers. Not only did the movie portray the battle but it also portrayed politics and the Spartan lifestyle.

The movie 300 centers around Leonidas king of Sparta, who fought and died in the Battle of Thermopylae against the Persian army (“Frank”). The movie had many inaccuracy and accuracy from the written history about the battle, portrayed by the director. From the costumes, warriors, children, and people to the events that took place. 300 was directed as an action pact thriller that exaggerated the facts instead of sticking to historical accuracy. The battle of Thermopylae against the Persians did indeed happen with King Leonidas leading the charge with about 300 soldiers and outnumbered.

Good afternoon, I’ve been asked to speak with you about the historical accuracy of recent popular culture incarnations of both Spartan and Persian ideology and in particular I’ve chosen to evaluate Zack Snyder’s 2007, movie 300 in order to demonstrate to you it’s compatibility between ancient sourced depictions of both Spartan and Persian philosophy.

The movie "300" is a retelling of the Battle of Thermopylae where King Leonidas fought against the incursion of the Persian army into Greece.

The movie 300 came out in 2006 and was directed by Zack Snyder. It describes the event of King Leonidas and his Spartan soldiers’ fighting against the powerful Persian army at Thermopylae. Many movies that are created to express events from ancient times have both accurate and inaccurate aspects. In 300 the Spartan soldiers were physically displayed incorrectly along with a few other historical misconceptions. That said, the way the women were portrayed was truthful as well as the appearance of the oracle and the exact account of the three hundred men.

The primary analysis will come from identifying the main key points in Spartacus’s history in the Third Servile War. Furthermore, if the main key points do not align, then how much of an impact did it have on film. If the key points do with historical data, then was the portrayal of each scene accurate in terms of how it happened in history. For a film to thrive, directors usually must add Hollywood flair, which in most cases, could make or break a film. The first thing that will be analyzed is the background of Spartacus.

Spartans are well known all over the world because its huge charm that can grab everyone 's attention on it. The movie 300 it had to reveal the mysterious of Sparta, it had come to refresh people 's memory of Sparta. Also, its magnificent film and excellent action thought out the movie impact our impression of Spartans. The Spartans had once again come in front of people, its amazing history had remembered by everyone who saw the movie. The movie 300 is a 2007 film which record what happened in Thermopylae During 480 BC. The Battle of Thermopylae was fought between an alliance of Greek city-states, led by King Leonidas of Sparta, and the Persian Empire of Xerxes Iover the course of three days, during the second Persian invasion of Greece.

The 2006 film titled 300 puts the legendary war between the Persians and Spartans into action on the big screen. Although action-packed and exciting, 300 quickly became controversial due to its lack of historical accuracy and overly exaggerated visual details. Steven Pressfield’s epic novel Gates of Fire also tells the tale of the Battle of Thermopylae. Both the film and epic novel recreate the famous battle by mixing fiction and nonfiction components; however, they each have their own way of telling the tale.

The movie 300 is about King Leonidas of Sparta and a force of 300 men fighting against the Persians at Thermopylae in 480 B.C. (300) This movie is based on the novel “300” written by Frank Miller and Lynn Varley. ("Frank Miller 300 Movie vs. 300 Spartans History - Battle of Thermopylae") But, how much of the movie corresponds to what it was really like in 480 B.C. with the battle in Thermopylae.

King Leonidas, from Zack Snyder’s film, 300, once said, “This is Sparta.” 300 explains the historical story of Leonidas, King of Sparta, who leads a small force of three hundred men—his personal bodyguards—to a place known as the Hot Gates, to defend against a numberless horde of hostile Persians in combat to defend Greece. The King Leonidas and his 300 Spartans all died honorably while the Persians were able to get past the Spartans. The Spartans were citizens of ancient Sparta during ancient Greece. The movie shows the difficulty of a Spartan’s training by showing children fighting wolves and other children. Although this is a Hollywood movie, there are some parts of the movie’s portrayal of Spartan training that are historically accurate. Spartan training was ruthless and demanding for the men of Sparta. Training began at the age of seven and the children were taken away from their families. This is completely different from how the United States modern militaries train new recruits. The modern military training should not be combined with Spartan training because the Spartan’s were ruthless in the training of children, they used slaves as training dummies, and took individualism from their soldiers.