Download 300 The film “300” is a great, exciting movie with lots of action. This

300
The film “300” is a great, exciting movie with lots of action. This film is supposed to be
about the battle of Thermoplyae, between the united cities of Greece and the Empire of Persia.
This is a great movie, but the real question is, if it is historically accurate or not? This movie
begins showing the audience its interpretation of how a Spartan was brought up, then moves on
to show the events leading up to the battle as well as the battle of Thermoplyae itself. After
making extensive research on this film, I have found that there are both accuracies and
inaccuracies. I will now show you which accuracies and inaccuracies I found to be most
significant to making this film historically accurate or not.
First, the most significant historical error in my opinion to the film is the title. This film
is titled “300”, because they want to make the audience believe the battle of Thermoplyae was
between 300 Spartans and the much larger Persian army. According to a professor of Greek
history Paul Cartledge, “The movie doesn't really make it clear that although, yes, there were 301
Spartans (300 plus the king), behind those soldiers were about 7,000 other Greeks allied to
Sparta.” (Cartledge 1) Yes, there were only about 300 Spartans at the battle of Thermoplyae, but
what the movie does not depict are the other soldiers from different Greek cities behind them.
This is a substantial amount of soldiers which were left out of the film, that definitely affected
the battle and the end result. The reason for this is not a mistake, the director simply decided that
making the film this way would make it more exciting, and would make the film more profit than
just a history lesson.
Now, a portion of this film which contained some fact was the very beginning of it. This
part shows how a male child from Sparta is raised and trained to be a worthy soldier. In the
paper "The 300 Movie: Separating Fact from Fiction" Dr. Farrokh states, “As shown in the
movie, the boys of Sparta began training from the age of 7. Formal military service would begin
at the age of twenty…Training and drills were at least as brutal as combat situations. Sparta was
very much a warrior society.” (Farrokh 1) In the beginning of this film it depicts Leonidas as a
child, and it displays how he began his military training very early in his life just like all other
Spartans in this moment in time. This film gives examples of the type of tasks and training the
future soldiers had to accomplish. In Spartan society, if you did not pass all of these tests you
could not become a soldier and this meant you could not be a citizen Sparta either.
Another way the film “300” is inconsistent with history is the way the battle scene was
carried out. “According to Herodotus, Leonidas led an army of perhaps 7,000 Greeks. These
Greeks took turns rotating to the front of the phalanx stationed at Thermoplyae where, fighting in
disciplined hoplite fashion, they held the narrow pass for two days. All told, some 4,000 Greeks
perished there. In 300 the fighting is not in the hoplite fashion, and the Spartans do all of it”
(Lytle, 1) The battle of Thermoplyae was fought by the Spartans and Hoplites using the phalanx
formation. In this technique soldiers form a big body, either standing or moving in close
formation. The film does not portray this however, instead only the Spartans are fighting and it
is more individually than as a group. In the end of the battle in the film, all the Spartans die as
they do in history, but in history around 700 hoplites die as well.
“300” is a great movie to watch if you are looking for a good time, but not if you want a
history lesson on the Battle of Thermoplyae. The battle of Thermoplyae was fought by 300
Spartans and around 7,000 Hoplites against a much larger Persian army, not only 300 Spartans as
the movie attempts to illustrate. There is a little bit of accuracy in this film and one example
comes from the portrayal of how children were brought up in Sparta. Lastly, this battle was not
fought as fiercely and individually as the film depicts, instead it was fought using the phalanx
formation. To conclude, this movie was a fun experience, but not a good way to study for your
test on the battle of Thermoplyae.
Strong use of evidence to prove the many arguments!
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Citations
Cartledge, Paul. "Another View: Paul Cartledge, Professor of Greek History, on 300." The
Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 02 Apr. 2007. Web. 03 Sept. 2016.
Farrokh, Kaveh. "The 300 Movie: Separating Fact from Fiction." The 300 Movie: Separating
Fact from Fiction. Kaveh Farrokh, 9 Mar. 2007. Web. 03 Sept. 2016.
Lytle, Ephraim. "Sparta? No This Is Madness." The Star. The Star, 11 Mar. 2007. Web. 3 Sept.
2016.