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= 300: From Ancient History to Modern Blockbuster =

Project Summary
The movie 300 made famous the Battle of Thermopylae, and while it partly stays true to history, it also deviates substantially. This page provides a comprehensive summary of the movie and details these differences. Additionally, some key scenes are provided.

Movie Summary
300 opens with the story of King Leonidas’ upbringing, which is representative of the upbringing of Spartan men. It begins with an elder inspecting the newborn for defects - if found sufficiently defective, the baby is left to die. About when they learn to walk, training for male Spartan children begins, and at age 7 they are forced into a grueling training program called the Agoge. For King Leonidas, this ends in his slaying of a wolf, upon which he becomes king.

The movie then fast-forwards to when King Leonidas is mature, king of Sparta, and when Spartia is in danger. A Persian ambassador arrives in Sparta demanding Sparta’s surrender to King Xerxes. Not taking well to the message or its presentation, King Leonidas decides to kill the ambassador along with his envoy by throwing them into a well. This essentially means war. Prior to waging war, Spartans must first consult the Ephors, or Spartan priests. Leonidas does, presenting his plan to funnel the Persian army into a pass known as the Hot Gates, where the Persian numerical advantage will be nullified and Persian losses so great   Xerxes will stop his invasion. They in turn consult an Oracle, who supposedly says that Sparta is not to go to war out of respect for the Carneia, a Greek festival. The Ephors are revealed to have been corrupted by the Persians, taking gold from a Spartan traitor. Leonidas figures out a way around the Euphors decree - rather than officially declare war and amass all of Sparta’s forces, he selects 300 of his best soldiers to be his bodyguard for a walk to the Hot Gates. On the way there, they encounter more numerous allies who decide to join the Spartans, and a village that has been burned and had its inhabitants murdered by Persians.

Once at the Hot Gates, the Spartans construct a wall of stone and dead Persians. They are met by a threatening Persian emissary, who retreats with his party after having his arm cut off by a Spartan. The Spartans are approached by the deformed Ephialtes, who warns them of a goat path the Persians could employ to outflank the Spartans. He requests to fight alongside the Spartans, but is refused due to his inability to raise his shield. In response, Leonidas sends men to defend the path.

Shortly thereafter, the Persian army arrives at the Hot Gates and battle begins. Relying upon the phalanx fighting formation and general fighting prowess, the Spartans find success in combat, suffering some casualties but inflicting heavy damage upon the enemy. As a result, Xerxes approaches King Leonidas with an offer of wealth and power for surrender. This Leonidas mocks. In return, Xerxes unleashes his elite soldiers. These too the Spartans defeat.

The next battle sees the Spartans face rhinos and elephants, which the Spartans also manage to defeat. At the sight of Spartan success, Xerxes chops off the heads of several of his generals.

The tides turn for the Spartans when Ephialtes locates Xerxes and betrays the Spartans, informing him of the goat path.

Meanwhile, back in Sparta proper, the queen is threatened by Theron into sex in exchange for support in front of the council - she is attempting to convince them to bring the rest of Sparta into war.

Upon being informed of Ephialtes’ betrayal, the Spartan allies the Arcadians retreat, leaving only the Spartans to defend. Leonidas tells the wounded Dilios to travel back to Sparta, bring Leonidas' order of war to the council and tell the tale of the 300.

Back in Sparta, the queen makes her case for war in front of the council, is betrayed by Theron, and slays him and reveals him to be a traitor.

On the battlefield, the Spartans are approached by the Persians who again request Spartan surrender. King Leonidas feigns submission, kneeling, which gives Stelios the opportunity to kill the general demanding their surrender. Leonidas hurls his spear at Xerxes, wounding his face. Battle breaks out, and every Spartan fights to the death until he is killed.

The movie ends with Dilios speaking to a Spartan army that has assembled to thwart the Persian invasion, having been given enough time through the sacrifices of the 300.

Differences Between the Movie and History
The movie 300 is based very closely on the comic book series 300 by Frank Miller, which is a somewhat historically accurate retelling of the Battle of Thermopylae as recorded by Ancient Greek historian Herodotos. Notably, rather than begin with the scene in which Spartan Stelios becomes weak from the long march to the Hot Gates and falls and is consequently severely punished while other Spartans watch, the movie retelling begins with an inspection of newborns that flows into the telling of King Leonidas’ trials from birth to kingship. This opening scene is more in line with the overall portrayal of Spartans throughout the movie - as a harsh but tight-knit warrior society, which would be somewhat undermined by a scene where a Spartan is brutally punished for solely falling while fellow Spartans observe undisturbed. Also, the movie but not the comic book contains the plot with the queen and Theron in which, in her attempt to convince the remainder of Sparta into going to war, is met with corrupt councilman Theron who offers his support in exchange for sex, and is killed by the queen upon betraying her in front of the council.

In terms of the differences between the film and history, the film is somewhat true to history, and sufficiently so to be regarded as a decent representation of the Battle of Thermopylae. It, however, is no reenactment. One historical inaccuracy lies in the depictions of the Spartan warriors - in the movie they fight without body armor, in reality they fought with it. In the movie the Spartans sometimes break phalanx to engage in 1 on 1 combat, but this compromised the phalanx  and thus never happened in reality. Also, Persians of the time never used elephants or rhinoceroses in battle. Further, the movie has fantastical elements absent from history. For instance, the Ephors are disfigured in monster-like fashion, and Ephialtes is given similar treatment. There is no record of Ephialtes being disfigured in any way. Also, the elite Persian “Immortals” in the movie have giant monsters they deploy. Xerxes has an executioner giant monster. The portrayal of Xerxes is also somewhat inaccurate in that the real Xerxes was much shorter and bearded.

On another note, the entire subplot between Queen Gorgo and Theron is fiction. Also, there is no record of the corruption of the Ephors. Rather, Spartans were simply too devout to fight during the Carneia. Another inaccuracy lies in the fact around 2000 men, including the Spartans, elected to fight to the death, not just the Spartans.

Context for the War
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Prc1UfuokY

First and Representative Battle Scene
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdNn5TZu6R8

Death of Leonidas, Following Spartan Fight to the Death
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMSgxo5ozD0