The 300 movie It was a great success when it premiered in 2006 under the direction of Zack Snyder. Based on the comic of the screenwriter and filmmaker Frank Miller who bore the same title, "300," he recounts the events that took place at the Battle of Thermopylae that confronted the Persians, whose head included Xerxes, and a group of Greek cops, among they Sparta commanded by Leonidas. the historians affirmed that in general both the comic and the film are faithful to the real historical events, nevertheless several historical licenses were taken that in some aspects distance them from what the documentation is known to have happened at Thermopylae. Join us to know 10 Historical errors in the movie 300 and its protagonists: Thermopylae, Xerxes and Leonids.
10 Historical mistakes in the movie 300
The Battle of Thermopylae took place in the course of the Second Medical War, in the gorge of the Thermopiles, between August and September of the year 480 a.C. The director of the film, Zack Snyder, declared that "the events are correct in a 90 percent", but admitted that in some points it had not been faithful to the existing documents for various reasons. Here you have 10 of these historical errors or "licenses":
1. The first one is about Leonidas . Historically, it is considered that I was over 60 years old and could have been spared by the age of going to war against the Persians and in the film is clearly a younger man.
2. In the film it is often repeated that they were fighting for the freedom of Greece. This phrase is anachronistic since Greece was not a nation that acted jointly, but in the film, the protagonists in any case would say that they fought "for the freedom of Sparta".
3. Another proof that the war was not between Persians and Greeks was the alignment on the side of Xerxes of some Greek polis. With Athens and Sparta fought 70 cops, the rest were neutral in the conflict or joined the Persians. In the Greek world there were more than 1,000 cops, of which the largest was Sparta.
4. At first, together with Leonidas, he fought an army of more than 20,000 men.
5. In the 300 movie it is not mentioned that the Persians could not reach Leonidas and his men from the rear because a fleet, mainly athenian, cut off their passage by sea.
6. Ephialtes, the traitor, was not a deformed Spartan, but a completely healthy shepherd who belonged to the tribe of the wicked.
7. Along with Leonidas did not fight only 300 Spartans. Along with them, around 400 Thebans and 700 Thebes died at Thermopylae.
8. The bulk of the so-called "Greek army" did not flee for fear of being surrounded, but withdrew on the orders of Leonidas himself.
9. The representation of Xerxes with a shaved head and no beard, does not correspond to the aesthetics of a Persian of the time, but of an African king.
10. In the 300 movie the Greeks do not wear armor or follow any of the classic war formations of the Spartan army.
In addition, the image of Spartan society is distorted, since the fact that it was a slave society and of course the ephors they were not deformed or suffering from leprosy. They were magistrates elected annually by popular assembly. Did you notice these errors or historical licenses in the 300 movie ? Do you know any more? Share it with us!
Images: mshamma , Movie 300