300 (2006) Directed by Zack Snyder

         The movie 300, directed by Zack Snyder tells the story of the bravery and unity of King Leonidas and his army of three hundred Spartans who fought the army of Xerxes and his vast Persian army to their deaths (“The Story”).

         The movie 300 is based off of the historical Battle of Thermopylae (which translates to “The Hot Gates”) ("The Movie, 300, Historically Accurate?") of 480 B.C. that occurred between the Spartan king Leonidas and his soldiers and the Persian king Xerxes and his large army (Hughbanks). Despite the fact that some parts of the movie are historically accurate, the fact that it is based off of a graphic novel by Frank Miller who “appears to have relied on the writings of Greek historian Herodotus, whose works, though valuable, inevitably contain an element of bias, as do any historical works from any culture” (Farrokh) can influence the accuracy of the movie of the real- life battle overall. Even though the movie may be biased, the Battle of Thermopylae did occur in a narrow mountain pass like in the movie which made it more difficult for the Persian armies, as they would have to participate with hand- to- hand combat with the Greeks (Frye). The Spartans were trying to delay the Persians, preventing them from being able to attack the back end of the Greek navy (Gill). Also, while there were only three hundred Spartan soldiers, like in the movie, there were between 5,200 and 11,000 Greek soldiers which eventually became only 300 Spartans,400 Thebans, and 700 Thespians  after many of the Greek troops withdrew from the battle (Fitzgerald).These troops were not portrayed in the movie.
       This small group of soldiers faced the army of Xerxes, that the Greek historian, Herodotus, thought to be approximately 1.7 million, although “Herodotus' numbers must surely be overstated, although we will never know by how much”, although it is known that Xerxes' army was incredibly large (Frye). While the actual number of troops on both sides is still being debated, the Persians actually had a force between 70,000 and 300,000 men (Fitzgerald). At the end of the battle all of the Greek soldiers were dead (Fitzgerald), and many of the Persians also were dead, the number said to be about 20,000 (Frye). The fact that the movie played up the part of the Spartans valiantly going into battle with just the three hundred, and not with the other armies that were there also, shows how the directors changed the movie around so that it was more dramatic and impressive to the viewer. Also, Xerxes was not actually bald, or covered in glitter like he is portrayed to be in the movie, and was in fact, bearded (“The Movie, 300, Historically Accurate?”). This dramatic portrayal of Xerxes by the filmmakers was done by the filmmakers to make him seem in some ways more powerful, and more set apart from his soldiers.

300 Spartans, 400 Thebans and 700 Thespians(Fitzgerald) which were not portrayed in the movie. This small group of soldiers faced the army of Xerxes, that the Greek historian, Herodotus, thought to be approximately 1.7 million, although “Herodotus' numbers must surely be overstated, although we will never know by how much”, although it is known that Xerxes' army was incredibly large (Frye). While the actual number of troops on both sides is still being debated, the Persians actually had a force between 70,000 and 300,000 men (Fitzgerald). At the end of the battle all of the Greek soldiers were dead (Fitzgerald), and many of the Persians also were dead, the number said to be about 20,000 (Frye). The fact that the movie played up the part of the Spartans valiantly going into battle with just the three hundred, and not with the other armies that were there also, shows how the directors changed the movie around so that it was more dramatic and impressive to the viewer. Also, Xerxes was not actually bald, or covered in glitter like he is portrayed to be in the movie, and was in fact, bearded (“The Movie, 300, Historically Accurate?”). This dramatic portrayal of Xerxes by the filmmakers was done by the filmmakers to make him seem in some ways more powerful, and more set apart from his soldiers.

             A traitor named Ephialtes actually did lead the Persians on a path that took them behind Greek lines (“300: The Movie Vs Real Life”), although he was not actually a disfigured hunchback like in the movie, and the elephants and rhinoceroses were also made up by the film makers (Hughbanks). The exotic creatures in the battle were added to make the film more interesting to watch, and the traitor was made to be a disfigured man who wanted to be a Spartan soldier to add a plot twist to the story. In addition to the actual battle, the idea of Spartans sending their young boys away to be trained as soldiers, and the discarding of deformed babies is true (“300: The Movie Vs Real Life” ), and the overall military spirit of the Spartans that was consistently shown throughout the movie was also very accurate (Farrokh). However, in regards to what the soldiers wore, the Spartans did not actually go into battle bare chested (Borza), and the Persian soldiers depicted in the movie were shown wearing clothes nothing like they would have been dressed in, and their clothing resembled the Arab horsemen garb that was used thousands of years later (Farrokh). These changes in the dress of the soldiers is another way in which the directors of the movie changed the movie around. The bare chested Spartans made the soldiers seem more immune to the killing and more powerful than the Persians, and the fact that the directors put many of the Persian soldiers in inaccurate clothing shows how they were just going with the common idea of how Persians were thought to have dressed in this time period. This includes how the Immortals, an actual unit in the Persian army were given Oriental looking masks and were dressed in a ninja fashion (Farrokh). It is because of this that Dr. Kaveh Farrokh thinks that “[Hollywood] is intent on conveying a certain “image” of the Classics” and that “there is a desire to “Orientalize” the ancient Iranians” (Farrokh). This is just one example of how the ancient Iranians are stereotyped in this movie with Oriental style masks, as well as some soldiers being dressed how Arabs would be thousands of years later, promoting historical biases, and the overall preconceived idea of the Persians.