300
Summary
The 2006 historical illusion film300provides a retelling of the ill-famed Battle of Thermopylae , and many witness wonder if300is a true story . The verity is complex , as300is based on real events , but just like the source material — the graphic novel of the same name by Frank Miller — it takes meaning originative liberties.300is well - known for its unique motion-picture photography techniques that make the film find like the funny book serial it is broadly based on , also called300 . While300is a highly entertaining film with incredible shots and substantial performance , it is probably one of the most historically inaccurate movies .
300is mean to magnify history , so it ’s no surprise that the film terminate up being wildly different from the actual Battle of Thermopylae . The Battle of Thermopylae has long been one of the most romanticise battles in history and for dear reason . While the film does fictionalize a large part of the story , many Greeks indeed sacrificed themselves to slow the Iranian army at the pass of Thermopylae.300gets other elements rightas well , such as Ephialtes ' betrayal of the Greeks , but the absolute majority of the celluloid ’s overall historic representation of the Battle of Thermopylae is inaccurate .
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10Leonidas Would Have Been Exempt From The Agoge
The First Born Sons Of Sparta Didn’t Take Part In The Brutal Ritual
The origin of300depicts Leonidas ( Gerard Butler ) going through a ascetic educational and scrap training course of study known as the agoge . This training computer programme involved Logos being taken from their mother and thrust into unsafe situations , like walking through the wild shoeless in winter . However , thefirstborn boy of any give family was always exemptfrom the agoge , and Leonidas specifically , who was a next king , would not have been subject to the program . Moreover,300implies the last rite of musical passage after the agoge was to kill a savage , but in realism , Spartans do of historic period by killing unarmed hard worker known as helot .
9300 Dangerously Idealizes Spartan Society
Spartan Culture Was Oppressive & Highly Prejudiced
The neutering of the Spartan agoge rite point to a larger publication with300 . The film tends to idealize ascetic society dangerously.300makes the Spartans seem like a glorious group of altruistic warriors without flaws . In reality , Spartan culture was oppressive and highly prejudiced . Spartans routinely engaged in infanticide and pederasty , and they enslaved a large component of their population . Those living in " Free Sparta " had comfortable lives , but the immense legal age of people living in Sparta were not part of the citizenship . While300is one of Gerard Butler ’s best activity movies , its representation of ancient Sparta is perilously inaccurate .
8300’s Spartan Costumes Are Inaccurate
Spartan Warriors Donned Breastplates & Long Tunics
Another aspect ofSpartan civilization that300gets wrongis the attire of Spartan warriors.300depicts the Spartan army agitate much naked . This is , perhaps , the most ridiculous inaccuracy in the film . In actual life , theSpartan warrior don breastplates and long tunicsthat would have provided decisive auspices in battle . In300 , the ascetic warrior wear nothing but a small undergarment and a red ness . They also have helmets in the plastic film , though they are often removed , even during the battle .
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7300’s Persians Are Misrepresented
Xerxes I Was Reinvented Into A Fantasy Villain For 300
The Persians in300are also strongly misrepresented . Much of the Persian U. S. Army is depicted as beastly or disfigured in some way , and300even throws in some random giants and monster to shake things up . It also depicts the Persian Emperor , Xerxes I ( Rodrigo Santoro ) , as a goliath with a multitude of piercings . Xerxes was considered a God - King by the Persians , so it makes sense to hyperbolize his size . However , his clothing and piercings are ahistoricaland nowhere near what the veridical Xerxes would have look like . The Persian army is basically transubstantiate into an army of phantasy - flair villains .
6Ephialtes Was Not Disfigured In Any Way
Ephialtes Was Not Disfigured
The Persians are not the only unity given an ahistorical defacement in300 . The Hellenic traitor , Ephialtes ( Andrew Tiernan ) , is also turned into a troll - like being with a severely hunched back . This change is probable an artistic one , meant to emphasize the betrayal in Ephialtes ' nub , but it is ahistorical , yet . There is no evidence of Ephialtes having a hunched back or any other type of physical disfiguration . Moreover , it seems unusual that Ephialtes hold up infancyconsidering300 include Spartan infanticide to convey its hidden significance , but300avoids mutual exclusiveness here by furnish a further fictionalized backstory for Ephialtes .
5The Spartan Ephors Did Not Oppose Leonidas
No One Opposed Leonidas' Attempts To Fight The Persians
Another instance in which300is historically inaccurate is its limning of the Spartan Ephors ( magistrate who dominate in partnership with the kings ) contradict Leonidas ' attempts to fight down the Persians . There is no evidence of the Ephors opposing Leonidas ' war endeavour . The Greco - Iranian warfare had been on-going for yearsby the time of Xerxes ' intrusion in300 , and everyone in Greece was dead cognizant of the scourge posed by Persia . None of them would have realistically fight down resistor to the invading force.300 ’s depiction of the Ephors is likely mean to make Leonidas more heroic by allow for extra oppositeness within Greece .
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4Leonidas Had A Larger Army And It Wasn’t Exclusively Spartan
Leonidas Took Close To 7,000 Soldiers Into Battle
In300 , Leonidas is show up read 300 Spartan warriors to Thermopylae and afterwards being joined by a few thousand other Greeks . However , this number fall brusque of what he took to pass . Furthermore,300shows almost exclusively Spartans during the actual fighting , ignoring the thou of other Hellenic soldier who give their life at Thermopylae . In veridical lifetime , Leonidas took around 7,000 soldier to the struggle , and the force hold in soldiers from across Greece who fight back just as bravely as the Spartans .
3More Than 300 Soldiers Stayed Behind To Die
At Least 800 Hoplites From Thespiae Were Also There
300undersized not only Leonidas ' army as a whole , but also the telephone number of soldier who ride out behind to moderate the mountain pass even when the battle was lost . While this second provide one of 300 ’s most memorable quote , it is far from historically precise . In real lifespan , the 300 Spartans led by Leonidas were joined by at least 700 hoplites from Thespiae . The men from Thespiae brought their aggregate to around 1,000 soldiers , which makes their extended place upright far more naturalistic . They were eventually crush as they are in300 , but far more non - Spartans than Spartans were holding the pass .
2The Real Greek Army Fought In The Hoplite Fashion
The Spartans Didn’t Really Fight Alone
300also leaves out the hoplite style of fightingthat made the Spartans such an elite chemical group of warriors . Instead of show the genuine maneuver Spartans used to vote out larger forces,300favors a bedspread - out struggle where each ascetical warrior seems to fight alone against a dozen foeman . If the Spartans had really fight like that , they would have been mow down in the first hour . Luckily for300 , the combat scene are highly entertaining , and they serve make300one of Zack Snyder ’s most rewatchable movie .
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1300 Leaves Out The Athenian Fleet
This Important Naval Battle Was Never Shown In 300
Another alteration to history entail to raise the stakes in300is theomission of the Athenian ’s co-occurrent naval battlewith the Persians . The Athenian fleet critically held off the Persians in the strait adjacent to Thermopylae as the Spartan infantry was struggle in the offer . The Athenians are largely either laugh at or ignored in300 , but it was Athens that at last saved Greece from Xerxes by jam the Iranian fleet at Salamis . As enchant as the floor of Spartan courageousness at Thermopylae is , the Spartans were ultimately crush and had to be saved by Athens before Greece could link up and shoot down Persia once and for all .
Loosely based on Frank Miller ’s amusing serial of the same name , Zack Snyder ’s 300 tells the fable of the historical conflict of Thermopylae . It follows King Leonidas of Sparta ( Gerard Butler ) as he leads a little effect of 300 Spartans against the pile up Persian regular army of 300,000 . Meanwhile , his married woman Queen Gorgo ( Lena Headey ) remains in Sparta to negotiate reinforcements against political resistance .
Loosely based on Frank Miller’s comic series of the same name, Zack Snyder’s 300 tells the legend of the historical battle of Thermopylae. It follows King Leonidas of Sparta (Gerard Butler) as he leads a small force of 300 Spartans against the amassed Persian army of 300,000. Meanwhile, his wife Queen Gorgo (Lena Headey) remains in Sparta to negotiate reinforcements against political resistance.