- tackles the story of king leonidas and the battle against the persian army
-great fight sequences
-beautiful costumes and set designs
-original storyline (so i believe, as i haven't heard of a movie talking about the story of king leonidas)
-GERARD BUTLER
for the actual historical event does anyone know if it was a million or 2 hundred thousand, because my history book says the second and the movies say the first. i have also heard it was a million from the movie the last samurai.
well, i do Classics at school and i've been told that the Persian army consisted of 1 million men. the number was always maintained, when one man died he was soon replaced...i think the army was known as the "invincibles"...or something like that.
as for the last samurai, i'm not too sure, not much of an expert in that field...i'd imagine their numbers were also quite big, wouldn't be surprised if it was about 1 million...
I'm really looking forward too it, I hope the story is as good as the visuals. It looks like their really pushing the boat out on this one. The only thing that can go wrong is plot and acting, but lets hope thats good too.
I absolutely cannot wait until this movie comes out. I am a history major in college, and the Spartans are my main area of interest. The Battle of Thermopylae is to this day one of the most heroic stands against innumerable odds, and according to Paul Cartledge (the premire historian of ancient Greece) the battle is the main reason that the Greeks were able to resist the invading Persian army.
For those who don't know... Persia was the worlds super power at the time, and Greece was not a nation in and of itself, but was made up of a collection of city states, including Sparta and Athens. The Persians invaded Greece and 300 Spartans along with a few thousand (about 7000 total) other Greeks held off the Persian Army (Most historians put their numbers between 800,000 and 2 million). The Spartans drove the Persians back again and again, and who knows how long they would've held out had they not been betrayed by a traitorous Greek.
So the Spartans sent the remaining Greeks home so that they might defend their homeland, but the 300 remained behind and fought to the last man. Needless to say the Alamo doesn't even compare.
So as you can tell I am looking forward to the film, granted I was hoping it would be done historically accurate, and not based off of the graphic novel, but it still should be very good and well worth the money.
u really must wonder if the spartans found some sort of muscle supplement like steroids,because they were so skilled at hand to hand combat on the battlefield. i don't even think they used the famous phalanx like the athenians used.
Yes the Spartans used the phalanx and were masters at it. They were also very good at feinting retreats and sucking in their enemies and then quickly turning on them and destroying them.
The Persians sent in various troops against them and three times Xerxes stood up from his throne because he couldn't believe that such a small force could defeat his vast army. On the second day he sent in his elite troops the "Immortals." They were called Immortals because everytime one died another took his place. But even they were routed by the Spartans.
When watching the trailor there are a few lines that are historically accurate, that one should watch for when viewing the film, such as when the Persians tell the Spartans to lay down their weapons and Leonidas replies, "Come and take them!" Or when the Spartans learn that the Persians are going to fire so many arrows it will blot out the sun and one Spartan says, "Then we will fight in the shade." Those things were actually said.
I can't wait for this movie...
to "airbornesaint". Wow, your knowledge is amazing. nothing like being in the presence of a genius, you make me look like an amateur and i've been learning Classics since i was twelve (sigh). then again, i've mostly studied the literature, whereas the history is what i'm really into.
EVERYONE WHO LOVES 300 HAS GREAT TASTE! ROCK ON GUYS!!!
The Blue Falcon's right - i think. It was only Xerxes elite soldiers who were the Immortals. i don't think it could be possible to have a whole army known as Immortals, you can only replace so many men at one time.
the elite guard were dressed in golden armor and used golden weapons. Strategically thats incredibly stupid because gold is a fairly weak metal, but it did represent that they were the best of the best. The Immortals were made up of 100 men at all times, if an Immortal fell, someone else would take up his place, hence the name.
