"Tonight we dine in Hell!"?

300 (2007)
Director, Screenplay: Zack Snyder
(Based on the graphic novel by Frank Miller)

I was drawn to this movie after listening to Empire Podcast, hosted by William Dalrymple and Anita Anand. It is a riveting podcast that takes its nerdy listeners on a long journey through history. What started with the East India Company and the British Empire in India, they have covered the Ottoman Empire, the history of slavery, the Russian Empire, and now they are discussing the Persian Empire. They were discussing the Battle of Marathon and The Battle at Thermopylae, and the film '300' emerged.

King Darius I's Army was defeated at Marathon in 490 BCE. Then, the messenger ran 26 miles to bring the news to Athenians. He died doing that, but that was the birth of the marathon run.

In 480 BCE, King Xerxes I sent an entourage to the Spartan King Leonidas demanding 'earth and water' as a token of submission to the Persian King. Of course, Leonidas, in his most Spartan way, retaliates. He pushes the messengers into a bottomless pit and takes the challenge to war. Leonidas battles the Persians at the Battle of Thermopylae.

Historians may disagree with what is depicted in the film as history. At the outset, the director has cleared the air that it is just a retelling of what was presented in Miller's graphic novel. It is a documentary or suggested viewing for history students.

King Xerxes

A true blue Spartan warrior would not be parading in spandex and capes but with full regalia of full body armour. I just realised that the Persians were the first to introduce trousers. They thought they were cultured as it prevented their inner thigh from chaffing as they spent long hours on horseback. For the record, the Tartars placed raw meat as saddles on their horses. By the end of the day, after a long ride, the meat is tender enough to be eaten raw. Of course, it is an urban legend made by people who have not seen a Tartar in their life. 

Besides the attire, the weapons choices were also different between the factions. The Persians used a lot of bows and arrows with long swords and rode on horseback, whilst Greeks liked to see their foes in their eyes and stab them with their short blades.

When the movie was released, the Iranians stated their objection to the depiction of their ancestors as hedonistic, grandiose, slave-owning tyrants. In their defence, King Xerxes was depicted as effeminate and promiscuous. History also tells us that Cyrus the Great freed Jewish slaves in his time. And the Spartans were high on slave ownership. The leaders asserted that the movie was just part of a comprehensive U.S. psychological war aimed at denigrating Iranian culture.

Another thing about Persian history is that what the present world knows about Persia is biased as they were written by Herodotus, who was at the receiving end of the assault. Figures could have hiked up, and the invaders could be painted as more evil than they really were. On top of that, Herodotus is said to have had many variable accounts of what transpired during the clash. Plutarch had refuted many of his writings. 

The Greco-Persian Wars have been labelled as the clash between the East and West, the good versus evil battle. In reality, nobody is good or bad. It is just geopolitics. Both sides had their superiority and defects. The Persian Empire was the earliest and most prominent Empire. The Spartans who led the land offensive at Thermopylae were stellar combatants. Hitler was so impressed by the Spartan fighting spirit that he built his military school based on the Spartan model. That must have helped the Nazis in their blitzkrieg as they marched through Poland and Belgium. Methamphetamine also must have contributed too. The war was led by Sparta, but other states would contribute manpower, too. 

This battle had a sea warfare component, too, led by Athenians. Their heavy ships caused much damage to the Persian fleet during the Battle of Salamis that followed afterwards. Intertwined in the saga are stories of betrayal by a Greek and the convoluted prophesy of the Oracle. Ephialtes, a Spartan rejected from the Army, decided to sell information on easy passageways to the Persians in exchange for a Persian uniform, wealth and pleasures of the flesh. The Oracles are apparently bribed by Greek turncoats. A kingdom will fall, they say, but which one?

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