AboutIrulan Serena Expertise Along with teaching classical Literature for over thirty-eight years, I have also taught history of the Greco-Roman cultures. History and Mythology are, in my opinion, inseparable; it is necessary to have a background in both to have a clear understanding of both ends of the spectrum, the myth and the fact.
Question Hi. I'm interested in the Hollywood vs History angle. The film "300" won big at the box office. How accurate a depiction is it? Are there any other films that get you going in terms of the accuracy or inaccuracy?
Thanks so much for your time.
Jim
Answer Hello Jim,
Just about every single film based on ancient history is redolent with chronological, historical and cultural inaccuracies, the movie the 300 was no different, but this is due to several reasons:
Sources of information are not primary but secondary at best and even then one has to consider that history is written by the winners and what is written is not always true to factual happenings. The battle of Thermopylae happened nearly 2,500 years ago. Getting all the facts correct about the battle was impossible, however there were some accurate events such as:
1 7,000 Greeks were led by King Leonidas to fight against the Persian Empire's 100,000 to 2,000,000 in the narrow pass of Thermopylae (Greek estimates).
2 Greek numbers and Thespians numbers Heredotus relates the story of 300 Spartans and 700 Thespians defending the Pass of Thermopylae against almost "2 million" Persians for three days.
3 Persian numbers (according to Herodotus, though current historians disagree)
4 The manner in which the Persian messengers was treated …pushed into the well
5 The remaining Greeks staying behind due to law (religious law, due to the observance of the Olympics during which all hostilities were supposed to stop)
6 The immortals, and Xerxes sending them against the Spartans in rage, and then them losing to the Spartans
7 The goat path behind the Spartans was betrayed by a Greek traitor named Ephialtes.
8 Before the battle began, there were approximately 200 Persian ships destroyed by a violent storm.
9 The Spartans yelled "come and take them" when the Persians ordered them to throw down their weapons.
10 The battle lasted for three days with the Greeks stopping several waves of attacks.
11 At this point, all troops fled or surrendered except for the 300.
12 A Spartan did say, "Then we will fight in the shade" in response to someone saying that the Persians arrows will hide the sky.
13 The Spartans fought until the last man was slain in a sea of arrows.
14 The fact that 4,500 Greeks died including the 300 and 20,000 of the Persian Empire died (Greek estimates).
300's most noteworthy abuse of history:
1 The Persians are turned into monsters, but the non-Spartan Greeks are simply all too human. The horrendous creatures presented in the movie as part of the Persian horde were a “cinematographic construct” to appeal to the ingrained fascination of horrors we humans possess.
2 In 300 the fighting is not in the hoplite fashion, and the Spartans do all of it, except for a brief interlude in which Leonidas allows a handful of untrained Greeks to taste the action, and they make a hash of it. When it becomes apparent they are surrounded, this contingent flees. In Herodotus' time there were various accounts of what transpired, but we know 700 hoplites from Thespiae remained, fighting beside the Spartans, they, too, dying to the last man.
3 No mention is made in 300 of the fact that at the same time a vastly outnumbered fleet led by Athenians was holding off the Persians in the straits adjacent to Thermopylae, or that Athenians would soon save all of Greece by destroying the Persian fleet at Salamis. This would wreck 300's vision, in which Greek ideals are selectively embodied in their only worthy champions, the Spartans.
4 King Leonidas' last words to his wife. His real words probably would have been better in the movie. Leonidas' wife Gorgo asked what she should do on his departure. He replied, "Marry a good man, and have good children."
5 The Oracle at Delphi revealed to Leonidas that either Sparta would be conquered and left in ruins or one of her two hereditary kings, descendant of Hercules (therefore, Leonidas), must sacrifice his life to defend her. Historical accuracy should have been presented in the movie, then the viewer knows that Leonidas was not expecting reinforcements, and knew that his death was inevitable to avoid the destruction of Sparta.
There were many more inaccuracies but as you know Hollywood has a penchant for “molding” events to suit thieir purpose and their advantage … a movie must sell thus history and historical events become a malleable thing in the hands of the Hollywood cinematographic ‘moguls’.
