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First, Spartans are presented in the film as the only Greeks prepared to take on the advancing enemy. In fact they were the leaders of a coalition of Greek states, who had long debated where to attempt to hold up the Persian advance, only finally settling on Thermopylae. Second, the Spartans are portrayed as upholders of freedom and reason. Given that they were not a democracy, as Athens was, that is a bit rich; nor did they engage in the rationalistic speculation that characterised Greek philosophy. Nevertheless, they might well have enjoyed the kudos that came from such a claim, however much they would have secretly despised it (no Guardian readers, they). Third, they went into battle without much in the way of armour. That would have baffled them — leather swimwear has a limited capacity to protect against spear, sword and arrow — but would probably have pleased them too, depicting them as even bolder and braver than their reputation would suggest. Fourth, it appeared that they alone defended the pass, when in fact they were helped by others. Fifth, the film got some of their sayings right (Persians: ‘Lay down your weapons’; Spartans: ‘Come and get them’). Finally, the enemy Persians were depicted in such terms as to suggest their army was almost superhuman — and yet 300 Spartans in bathing-trunks were able to keep them at bay. Now that is class!
It remains a great mystery why the Iranians should have complained up to UN level about this drivel. Iranians are perfectly capable of responding with celluloid of their own, though whether even they could plumb the bottomless inanities offered by Zack Snyder is open to doubt. Some even branded it ‘an insult to Islam’. Ahuramazda will be annoyed.
But why bother? The dignified response would have been to dismiss this tripe as the overheated fantasies of battle-maddened juvenile delinquents reared on a diet of PlayStations. Just the stuff for ancient Spartans, though!
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