The Battle of Thermopylae and Frank Miller's 300

The movie 300 has recently been released on DVD and Blue ray. While the account of the battle has been fictionalized and added commentary from the movie makers that would probably not have been the thought of the Greek. The battle itself did take place and it considered to be the turning point that determined the course of Western Civilization for thousands of years to come.

The force of 300 Spartans did indeed face the much large Persian army, but the film makers showed a much lesser contribution of the other cities of Greece to the narrow pass. The total of Greek troops from the various city states brought the total of the defender to the pass to 7,000. The details of how many other soldiers from other Greek city states are unclear.

The movie does not go into the details of why the particular location of the Thermopylae was chosen for the battle. While the Persian army had been one of the largest forces the world would ever see until the twentieth century, the opposing army as has been stated was a rather small force. By forcing the Persians to choose this route, Leonidas, the Spartan King, reduced the number of enemies he and his allies would face at any one time.

The Greek Historian Herodotus said that after a traitor showed the Persian army a goat path that provided an alternate way up the pass, the Spartan king dismissed the rest of the forces, leaving only the 300 and two other groups with him. In Book 7 , Herodotus says that the Thespians stayed with the king willingly and that the king viewed the Thespians as hostages.

While the Persians won the battle, the event itself has long been remembered in Western Lore and the motto of the state of Connecticut, "Live Free or Die" has been said to be inspired by the stand took here by Leonidas and his men.

Sparta may have lost the battle, but a storm breaking half the Persian fleet cut the losses and eventually helped to the overall Greek victory in the war. In what may be seen as a pure act of spite, it took the Spartans 40 years to recover the body of King Leonidas from the Persian Empire.

On the third day after the betrayal, the Spartan forces who stayed behind bought enough time for the Greek forces to escape. The Persian troops known as the Immortals killed off those who stayed behind.

Much like English History would have been much different had King Harold won the Battle of Hastings, the history of the Western world would have been far different indeed had the Greeks lost the war. Strangely enough, the most famous battle of the conflict The movie 300 did not get things too far off after all it seems about the details of the Battle of Thermopylae, but like all Holly wood films, there were changes to make better cinema.

Sources:

Herodutus, Book 7

http://ancienthistory.about.com/cs/weaponswar/p/blpwtherm.htm