300, Historically

By Liz Burgess
April 1, 2007

Many of you read 300 the graphic novel before going out to 300 the movie. I'm a different kind of nerd, so I read Herodotus' Histories, specifically Book 7 (Polymnia), in which the Battle of Thermopylae takes place. Herodotus wrote about forty years after the Persian Wars, but still almost 2,500 years ago.

When Xerxes became king of Persia, his father, Darius, had been preparing to go to war against Greece. Xerxes took a detour to subdue Egypt, who had recently rebelled, then spent almost five years gathering the army. Once on the road, he paused in Lydia and sent heralds to demand from all Greek cities — except Athens and Sparta — offerings of earth and water. Many cities relented. No heralds were sent to Athens and Sparta because when Darius invaded some time earlier with the same request, the Athenians threw the messenger into a "pit of punishment;" the Spartans threw their messenger into a well, and suggested the messenger "take therefrom earth and water for themselves, and carry it to their king."

One of Xerxes' councilors was Demaratus, a former king of Sparta who'd been deposed and exiled. Xerxes, being very cocky, never really believed Demaratus' warnings:

"What wild words, Demaratus! A thousand men join battle with such an army as this! [...] For, to go to the very verge of likelihood — how could a thousand men, or ten thousand, or even fifty thousand, particularly if they were all alike free, and not under one lord — how could such a force, I say, stand against an army like mine? Let them be five thousand, and we shall have more than a thousand men to each one of theirs. [...] I believe, that if the Greeks had to contend with the Persians only, and the numbers were equal on both sides, the Greeks would find it hard to stand their ground."

While Demaratus was perhaps not a "good guy," he did send word to Sparta first when Xerxes planned to invade. (Herodotus himself says he's not sure if Demaratus did this from good-will or "insolent triumph.") He took a pair of wax tablets, scraped off the wax, and wrote on the wood itself what Xerxes planned. He then put the wax back over the tablets, and sent them to Sparta. It was Leonidas's wife, Gorgo, who figured out the message.

Many Persian ships were lost in a storm; however, they were not carrying land troops to Thermopylae as shown in the film. Xerxes marched his part of the army down from Hellespont (modern-day Turkey).

As in the film, the Greeks determined the best place to hold off the Persians was Thermopylae. Sparta consulted the Oracle at Delphi, who said that either Sparta would fall or lose a king. Leonidas was one of two kings of Sparta at the time, and he was sent ahead with 300 men (and their slaves). After the end of the Carneian festival, the rest of the Spartan army would move out. The rest of the Greek allies were also at home en masse for the Olympic festival.

"The Greeks who at this spot awaited the coming of Xerxes were the following: From Sparta, three hundred men-at-arms; from Arcadia, a thousand Tegeans and Mantineans, five hundred of each people; a hundred and twenty Orchomenians, from the Arcadian Orchomenus; and a thousand from other cities: from Corinth, four hundred men; from Phlius, two hundred; and from Mycenae eighty. Such was the number from the Peloponnese. There were also present, from Boeotia, seven hundred Thespians and four hundred Thebans. Besides these troops, the Locrians of Opus and the Phocians had obeyed the call of their countrymen, and sent, the former all the force they had, the latter a thousand men."

So, around five thousand people versus ... well, scholars debate the actual number of the Persian troops. Herodotus says over two million. Even half — even a tenth of that, is insane odds. But the Spartans didn't care.

The Persians encamped, and Xerxes sent forward a scout. The scout counted the Greek army and noted the Spartans practicing gymnastics and spending time combing their long hair. (I could have used some of that in the film ....) The scout returned to Xerxes, who was amused, and again ignored Demaratus' warnings. Xerxes waited four days, expecting the Greeks to retreat. On the fifth day, he attacked.

And was repelled. "During these assaults, it is said that Xerxes, who was watching the battle, thrice leaped from the throne on which he sat, in terror for his army."

On probably the second day, Ephialtes of Malis requested an audience with Xerxes, and told of a small path that led around the pass. At dusk, a contingent of Persians took the path, and encountered one thousand Phocian soldiers. Some Phocians were able to escape to warn the rest of the Greek army, arriving at dawn.

Leonidas sent away all but the Thespians and Thebans and waited. (This is where all the ass kicking happens.) Unfortunately, Leonidas dies. His troops drive back the Persians four times in order to retrieve Leonidas' body, and pull back to a hill. "Here they defended themselves to the last, such as still had swords using them, and the others resisting with their hands and teeth; till the [Persians] ... overwhelmed and buried the remnant which was left beneath showers of missile weapons ...." Total casualties on the Persian side are estimated to have been around 20,000.

Movie Nitpicks and Bits of Trivia

Boy, I could complain about parts of the movie for hours. Mostly I don't, because the director has even said some things (like fighting styles) were purposefully changed to "look cool."

Of course, when you break the phalanx rules, you don't get to use "you have to fight in formation" as an excuse to kick someone out of your army so he can betray you ....

I don't really understand changing the prophesy and adding the intrigue with Theron. To me, someone in the mindset of, "Well, I'm going to die or my country will fall," is more interesting than, "Screw the gods, I'm going so my country doesn't fall."

A few people rolled their eyes when, after the Persians demand the Spartans throw down their weapons, Leonidas yells, "Come get them!" Plutarch, who, granted, wrote almost 400 years after the fact, includes that exchange. Herodotus has Dieneces saying, when told of the vast archer contingent, "If the Medes darken the sun, we shall have our fight in the shade." Laconic wit gets its name from Sparta — Lacedaemonia (also known as Laconia) was the name of the wider area under the rule of the city of Sparta.

Slavery. Well. Slavery and freedom are huge themes in the film, and, if portrayed accurately, you wouldn't really be cheering the Spartans. Spartans had slaves, called Helots. Once a year, as part of the agoge (the training for boys), young Spartan men would participate in the krypteia. Basically, the state declared war on their slaves. Spartan men could kill any Helot they came across (usually at night per Plutarch), and loot the corpse. I can understand leaving this out of the film, since, you know, you want to have someone be a good guy ....

Ephors. Uh, I have no idea why they made the ephors weird, deformed lechers ravishing oracles. (Also, calling them inbred? Leonidas was married to his half-brother's daughter.) Historically, there were five ephors, elected by popular vote, who upheld the rule of the kings. They also oversaw the council of 28 elders.

August and Hercules. Okay, I'm really reaching here, but August wasn't called that until four hundred years later, in Rome (as in Augustus Caesar?). And has TV really made people forget that in Greece, it's Heracles?

This is, by far, not an exhaustive overview. I could go on, and on, and on. Feel free to drop me an e-mail if you have any other nitpicks on the film, or questions about the history, and we'll publish it in next month's Going Postal.

Ancient History Sourcebook — Fordham University's links to various primary sources from the Ancient world.
Herodotus's Histories — Public domain version of Herodotus's history of the Persian Wars.
Plutarch's The Morals — Plutarch's all-too-brief section on Leonidas.