Download 300 vs history 031407

VS.
HISTORY
DOES THE FILM MATCH THE FACTS?
Story and illustrations by Doug Griswold — Mercury News
Sure, it’s fun to watch 300 nearly naked Spartans — abandoned by the rest of Greece — ignoring their own battle tactics to fight
off a million invaders. But don’t mistake this for history. Here’s how Zack Snyder’s new movie “300” (based on Frank Miller’s
graphic novel) stacks up against the textbooks on what really happened 2,500 years ago at Thermopylae. (OK, 2,487 years.)
What started
the war?
In the movie, King Leonidas
of Sparta provokes the invasion
of Greece. When asked by an
envoy of the Persian king Xerxes
for a small amount of Spartan
earth and water as a token of
submission, Leonidas tells him
he will find both at the bottom
of a well — then pushes him in.
This is said to have occurred
about a year before the Battle
of Thermopylae in 480 B.C.
The Spartans actually did throw Persian diplomats down a well.
But they did it at least 10 years earlier, before the Persian king
Darius invaded Greece in 490 B.C. What provoked Xerxes’ invasion
was not Sparta but Athens, which supported the rebellion of
Greek cities in Asia Minor against Persia in 499 B.C.
The rebellion was crushed, but according to the Greek
historian Herodotus, Darius was furious that Athens had dared
to assist the rebels. He sailed to Greece in 490 B.C. to punish
Athens, but was defeated by the Athenians at the Battle
of Marathon. Ten years later, when Darius’ son Xerxes
resumed his father’s unfinished business with Greece,
he didn’t bother to send envoys to Sparta and Athens.
How big was
the Persian
army?
The Persian messenger tells
Leonidas that Xerxes’ army is so
large that “it drinks rivers dry.”
Leonidas says the Persians claim
their forces number in the
millions, but adds that they
surely exaggerate.
Xerxes spent more than four years gathering
soldiers and supplies from every corner of
the Persian Empire. Herodotus put the
number at 2.6 million, but historians agree
that he exaggerated. Modern estimates
range from 150,000 to 200,000 — still
an army of unprecedented size.
Why so few
Spartans?
The real question for Sparta was not whether to fight, but where.
Sparta and the other cities of the Peloponnesian Peninsula wanted to
abandon northern Greece, and make their stand at the narrow Isthmus
of Corinth. The Athenian leader Themistocles pushed for a defense
farther north, arguing that the key to defeating the Persian army
was destroying its fleet. The invading force was too large to live
off the land, and would starve without thousands of supply ships.
The Spartan council of elders eventually supported
Themistocles’ plan, but only
Persian navy
halfheartedly. Citing the religious
custom banning the use of the army
during the festival of Carneia, the
Artemisium
council gave Leonidas only 300
Ae
g
Spartans to join a force of about 7,000
Greek soldiers that was to delay the
Persian army at the narrow pass at
Plataea
Thermopylae while a Greek navy fought the
Corinth
Persian fleet at nearby Artemisium. The Greek
Athens
PELOPONNESUS
navy fought ferociously but could not defeat
the much larger Persian flotilla.
The film says Leonidas can
take only 300 Spartans — his
bodyguards — to fight the
invaders because Persian agents
have bribed the high priests and
Spartan council members to keep
the army at home. Leonidas’ wife
spends much of the movie trying
to convince her
Persian army
fellow Spartans
that they must
Thermopylae
fight for their
survival.
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Ionia
Salamis Island
Salamis
Island
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The 300 Spartans were not alone in this
battle. On the first day, the Spartans took the
front line. On the second day, the other Greek
contingents were rotated into the front line, taking their turn beating
off attack after attack.
A Greek traitor named Ephialtes did assist the Persians.
When his treachery was discovered, Leonidas ordered the bulk
of his army to escape so they could fight again. When Leonidas
and his 300 stayed to cover their retreat, they were joined by
700 men from Thespiae who considered it an honor to die fighting
beside Spartans.
The film depicts gruesome,
deformed men with sharpened
teeth wearing silver masks who
are Xerxes’ much-feared,
undefeated elite troops. Leonidas
tells the Spartans that they will
put the names of these
“Immortals” to the test.
The Persian army did have a division of 10,000 elite soldiers
that Herodotus called the Immortals because if any died in
battle, they were immediately replaced — never allowing their
number to drop below 10,000. According to relief sculptures in
the ruins of Persepolis (the capital of ancient Persia), they were
armed with a spear, a bow and a quiver of arrows. They served
as the king’s bodyguards and the core of the army. Used against
the Greeks at Thermopylae after lesser units failed, they also
were repulsed with heavy casualties.
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Leonidas
In the movie, the
king of Sparta is
played by the
Scottish-born
actor Gerard
Butler.
Did the
Persian
army have
soldiers called
“Immortals”?
nS
Did the
Spartans
fight and
die alone?
Sparta
The 300
Spartans take
on the entire
Persian Empire by themselves,
assisted only once by a few dozen
other Greeks. When the Greeks
are betrayed by a Spartan
hunchback named Ephialtes, who
shows the Persians a goat path
to circumvent the pass, the other
Greeks leave the 300 to their fate.
Miles
Hollywood Spartan
Historic Spartan
HELMET
In the movie, only the
king’s helmet has a
decorative crest on top.
HELMET
Greek helmets in this era all had crests,
frequently of horsehair, to make the
soldier look taller and more imposing.
WEAPONS
Primarily, they fight with
a spear, usually thrusting
it, and occasionally
throwing it. Short
swords also are used.
BODY ARMOR
The Spartans of “300”
fight bare-chested,
with metal protection
only below the knees.
How did
the Greeks
finally
defeat the
Persians?
Did the Spartans fight like that?
In the movie, Leonidas explains that the strength
of the Spartans comes from the phalanx — the
formation of men in a row with overlapping shields,
forming a single impenetrable unit. Though the
Spartans in “300” start the battle this way, before
long they are rushing forward to fight as individuals.
In reality, the phalanx had to stay together. The
men in the phalanx, bearing 70 pounds of armor
and weapons, would push against the enemy line,
thrusting their long spears over their shields at any
patch of unprotected flesh, while the ranks of their
comrades pushed at their backs. If the phalanx
broke, defeat was inevitable.
Before the 300 are
surrounded, Leonidas sends one
of his soldiers back to Sparta
to tell the story and to rally all
of Greece to the cause of
fighting for its freedom. A year
later, a unified Greek army of
30,000 — led by 10,000
Spartans — defeats the
Persians at the Battle of Plataea.
Sources: Andrew B. Jordan and Jonathon W. Jordan, “Triumph
ot the Trireme” (The Quarterly Journal of Military History);
David Frye, “Spartan Stand at Thermopylae” (Military History);
John Keegan, “A History of Warfare”
WEAPONS
The primary weapon of the Spartan was
the thrusting spear. It was never thrown
(although javelins were). Normally, he used
his sword only if his spear broke.
BODY ARMOR
Although Spartans exercised and competed
in games naked, it is unlikely that they
went into battle that way. Chest armor
was used, as were bronze shin protectors.
Strips of leather hanging from the waist
gave some protection to the groin.
After the defeat at Thermopylae, the Greek fleet withdrew and
the Greek army retreated to the Isthmus of Corinth for its last stand.
Athens, which had been evacuated, was burned by the Persians. A
few weeks later, Themistocles managed to lure the huge Persian fleet
into the narrow channel between the Island of Salamis and the Greek
mainland. Here the Persians couldn’t take advantage of their superior
numbers, and half their fleet was destroyed by the Greeks.
Knowing his army would starve without his supply ships, Xerxes took
most of his army back to Asia. The much smaller Persian force that stayed
in Greece was destroyed the following year at Plataea. Most historians
agree that the turning point in the Greek-Persian War was the naval victory
at Salamis. It was also a turning point in Western civilization, for apart
from their contributions to literature, architecture, philosophy and the arts,
the ancient Greeks were in the process of inventing democracy.
Themistocles
The Athenian
leader and
architect of the
Greek victory
over Persia.