Forums / Discussion / General

So yes, I just found out that there is gonna be another 300 movie. I don't know if I'm late to the party, or not.

Either way, I liked 300, and all of it's moments. Also don't forget the memes the first one made.

So.

300: Rise of an Empire

What are your thoughts?

It's madness if they don't put another messenger-gets-kicked-down-endless-pit scene.

Just watched the movie.

Aside from the historical inaccuracies and one unnecessery sex scene, i found the movie to be just as exciting as the first.

Yeah, I also saw it because Roomates wanted to see it. "This is Sparta" I remember was said, but not anywhere close to how it was done in the first movie. Still bothered by the whole "We Greeks stand for FREEDOM" while not mentioning that the Greeks also had slaves. Of course, there's quite a few other historical issues (among other things).

Ok, this needs clearing up. As I have a huge Ancient Greek history fascination, I have some basic knowledge on this. As you all know, the Battle of Thermopylae was a battle against the Greeks and Persians in the Greco-Persian War. The common belief was 300 spartans guarded Thermopylae against Xerxes army. Now for a quick Google, that's partly true. I would estimate about 7000 Greek allies joined the battle. The Persian army is a little more debatable, (Herotodus estimates over a million.) The Greeks for the first days had a clear victory. Their technology was superior to the Persians, Hoplites with full metal armor and large shields, as well as the near-impenatrable Phalanx formation. The Persians, on the other hand, as displayed by the movie (though largely exaggerated) were used to large field battles wielding light armor and wooden shields. The "immortals" were simply more experienced better armored warriors. The way the Persians were able to be victorious was Ephialtes, a farmer, not a hunchback exile, and they flanked the Greeks. While some Greeks retreated at the approval of Leonidas, the Spartans maintained their position and were eventually killed by the outnumbering Persians.

That be said of the history, the movie was based on Frank Miller's comics. Both had no intention on preserving the history, they were made as I once read, "a feast for your eyes." The movie when I first saw it definately did that. Of course there are the inaccuracies that bother me, like Persians being devils, Ephialtes an exile Spartan, and oh god the potrayal of Xerxes. I'm guessing that's what they did with Rise of an Empire, exaggerate the naval battles and such.

This is how a Hoplite would look like:

Immortals and Persians:

A smart Spartan would never leave the Phalanx formation like in the movie.

The History Channel Documnetary is much better. (Back when it was still History.)

Sorry about the wall of text and if it's accurate, it's early here and I haven't got any coffee in me yet. A cookie goes to everyone that read it all.

Is it ever referred to as the Achaemenid Empire? Always bugged me slightly that they always seem to just be referred to as Persians. Which isn't incorrect, obviously, but still.

@gary: Every estimate I've heard places the Achaemenid Army at 100-150,000.

In these kind of movies, i usually neglect the historical accuracy just for the sake of fun.

I once got in a internet flame war because i got pissed on how historically inaccurate Sengoku Basara is, Which led the fanbase to completely destroy me. So i decided to not give a fuck anymore.

Yes, it's definitely not what Herotodus estimates. Herotodus was after all, known as the "Father of Lies." Either way, we know the Persians greatly outnumbered the Greeks. 100,000 seems like a reasonable estimate, their military was massive. And after a little more researching, I would say about 5000 greeks defended the pass, a rough estimate.

And yes, I would refer to the Achaemenid Empire, but I just used Persians beacuse of "Greco-Persian Wars name."

Well, of course Rise of the Empire wasn't going to respect historical accuracies much, I was aware of that since the beginning. It's a matter of entertainment purposes after all.

As soon as I was done watching the film, I literally said "Tenouttaten, I'd watch it again". That said, I'm interested in the graphic novel of Xerxes.