Is 300 Movie Historically Accurate

The movie 300 depicts the legend of the 300 Spartans who were able to hold off the Persian infantry at Thermopylae. Their stand gave more time for the Greeks to develop further plans and evacuate. The movie is able to follow the journey of the Spartan soldiers as described by many historians, while still adding “Hollywood touches” to make the movie more successful. The movie 300 is able to give a fairly accurate account of what happened during the Persian invasion of Greece and the stand of the brave 300 Spartan soldiers. One important piece of the film that is historically accurate, as well as significant to the story is sending the young, spartan men to military camps to make them true soldiers. The movie shows how the boys would fight with one another, making each of them …show more content…
According the battle told by Herodotus, the Spartans used a plan to take on a set amount of Persian troops, limiting the usage of the whole Persian army; Leonidas was able use mountain pass to execute this plan. The same tactics can be seen in the movie. The Spartans formed up in a mountain pass known as the “Hot Gates” where they would take on several waves of Persian troops. The Persians had less armour, making them more susceptible than the Spartans; this can be seen in the movie. The shape and type of weapons used by each side was also fairly accurate. The Persian infantry used bows and arrows as their main weapon. They usually used them on the open plains, which did not make them as effective in the mountain pass. The Spartan attack strategy of a phalanx was also accurate to the story told by Herodotus. The small inaccuracies seen in the movie were “comic book” changes such as strange creatures that were only implemented to grab the viewer’s attention, which only appeared in very small times. These were overshadowed by the larger, accurate concepts of the