One of the top-grossing films recently was also a very controversial one. The film 300, is based on Frank Miller’s graphic novel of the same name, which in turn is based on the story of the Battle of Thermopylae. Both the novel and the movie are told from the perspective of the Spartans. In any telling, the tellers will usually slant the story towards their favor. Let’s compare what the movie presents as what happened, what they left out, and what they totally missed on.
The “Heroes”
The “300” that fought the battle where 300 Spartan’s. The Spartans where considered by many the greatest warriors in all history. Their tribe, based in the city of Sparta (a Greek province) was a warrior society, and the rituals of “manhood” depicted in the movie where quite accurate. The selective birthing, in which an elder would discard deformed babies, was accurate. Young boys were forced to train, and fight, and kill, and survives on their own. What they left out is that the boys where also taught dance, and riddles, and history. These where supposed to be complete warriors, and they valued the mind as much as the body. The film presents them more as elite thugs, rather then educated hoplites.
The 700 Thespians that we encounter during the film were accurate in their numbers, while little time is spent on character development and Thespian history, the fact that they were conscripted soldiers, and not trained warriors is fairly accurate. This brave city was the only other committed city besides Sparta against the Persian invasion of Greece. For their troubles, their city was eventually burned to the ground. A year later 1,800 Thespians where sent to the battle of Plataea.
Not shown in the film is an estimated support group of 2,000-6,000. While primarily not warriors (save for a few Greek volunteer fighters) this group was composed of blacksmiths, cooks, tailors, etc. The total number is roughly 1,000 warriors plus support.
The “Villains”
The Persian army was a collection of countries in the vast empire of Persia. Their leader, Xerxes, was the son of Cyrus, who had lost to the Greeks in the war of Marathon. Cyrus asked his son to punish Greece for their victory over Persia. In the movie Xerxes is depicted as a tall bald man. The engravings found of him have him of average height and build with a traditional Persian beard. His telling of the story has the Persian army at 2.5 million (including support forces and sailors); others believe his numbers to be closer to 800,000 or less. While not 1 million to 300, 800,000 to 1,000 is still a decisive advantage.
The Persians themselves where not mutant creatures, this was just Hollywood-ification of the artwork from Miller’s novel. The Spartan may have viewed the enemy as monsters and visualized them as such. In reality the Persians appear much as their descendants do today.
The Weapons
A Spartan hoplite would be equipped with a sword (xiphos), spear (aspis), shield, cloak and armor. The armor set would be grieves (metal shin protectors) a helmet, bracers (fore arm guards) and a chest plate. The movie left out the chest plates in order to show off the physique of its actors. These items would have been made form bronze, with the shield being made from wood or bronze, depending on the wealth of the city.
The Persian infantry would have worn overlain straw and wood vests (wicker), if they were given armor at all, their primary weapon would have been spears and swords. Their shields were also wicker.
The depiction of the equipment alone is very impressive in this film. The small Greek force would have had better equipment, as only the elite warriors were present, and the mineral rich Greek lands provided many metals. The large Persian force, mostly of forced warriors, would have had cheaper equipment, made of cloth and fauna. The oil rich, but mineral weak Middle Eastern lands would have made the mining and smelting of bronze (the metal of choice at the time) very costly and difficult. Almost all metals found were used in swords, spears, and arrows.
The elephants and rhinos seen in the film would not have made an appearance; the Persian Empire did not quite expand to African/Asian regions that contained these animals yet.
The Traitor
The story of Ephilates is a true one. He led a group of Persian warriors to a mountain trail, that allowed them to flank the Greeks. What was added for the movie was the Leonidas-Ephilates interaction. The two most likely never met.
The Last Stand:
The movie shows the remaining Spartans standing alone to allow the remainder of their Greek comrades to flee. What is missing is the 700 Beotians who stayed with the Spartans to allow the 2,000+ support group to return home.
What They Missed
What the movie misses is that, the waterways where defended by Phoenician sailors who defeated the Persian navy and prevented them from surpassing the Spartans. The Spartans did have slaves of their own, but their military was treated like royalty. The movie also fails to note the significance fo the earlier battle with Cyrus and Xerxes motivation for his conquest,
What should be learned?
A group of 1,000 warriors held of nearly 1,000 times their number for three days. They used superior armor, training, tactics, and a geographical advantage to stay off defeat. This story has been a testament to “small vs. big.” This is a lesson on how preparation and knowledge can defeat brute force and size.
Resources
The map:
http://uoregon.edu/~klio/maps/gr/Thermopylae.jpg
