History Fridge / ThreeHundred

* In the beginning Leonidas lures a wolf into a tight passage and spears it, because the wolf was basically trapped and helpless -- he uses the same tactic during the battle of Thermopylae: he lures the huge Persian army into a small space where they can't make full use of their vast numbers, and can only send smaller forces, which get massacred.

* [[LoverAndBeloved In Athens they love boys]]. [[ManlyGay IN SPARTA THEY LOVE MEN]]!!!!

** First of all historically armies tended to get their food source from foraging the land and pillaging human settlements. Even for well-organized sophisticated military forces such as the Romans and the Qin Chinese, an actual logistics was the exception, not the norm, and even when a logistics system was in place food tended to be down the list of delivered goods. Pre-Napoleonic logistics focused mainly on getting equipment and weapons to a place. Considering the Spartans were already shown as training to be hunters, finding food at Thermopylae shouldn't be a problem. They just didn't show such boring bits onscreen. Secondly The Spartans were not the only soldiers in the battle. Other Greek city states (some who are either too pampered to give up luxuries even in war or were more sophisticated than the Spartans outside of war) such as the Athenians where in the battle. So its safe to assume the other Greeks were supplying Spartans with supplies. Also they fought for 3 days, not a week, and this Spartan unit was not a regular Spartan unit, it was the King's ELITE BODYGUARDS (which in real life would have been some of the most battle-hardened veterans and been trained far beyond the regular Spartans in things such as assassination attempts on generals, etc). Undoubtedly they already fought in campaigns where food shortages happened and they would have been the equivalent of special forces in battle (who can fight non-stop for entire days, even weeks, without sleep and food assuming they are resupplied with ammo and water and they have backup support or some other ridiculous advantage such as terrain, etc).

* In ThreeHundred, Leonidas tells the traitor Ephialtes to live a long life. At first it seems that Leonidas is telling him "Good luck with your life," a moment later Ephialtes breaks down in tears. Why? He was trying to regain his father's spartan honor, and in Sparta, you were only respected if you fought and died in battle. - Strilight
** That StealthInsult may also be the exact moment that Ephialtes realizes that Leonidas - who despite everything is still (in his mind) his beloved king - is [[ISurrenderSuckers not actually in the process of surrendering to Xerxes]], no matter [[HonorBeforeReason the personal consequences]].

* In the beginning Leonidas lures a wolf into a tight passage and spears it, because the wolf was basically trapped and helpless - he uses the same tactic during the battle of Termopilae: he lures the huge Persian army into a small space where they can't make full use of their vast numbers, and can only send smaller forces which get massacred.

** Similarly, as Kyle Kallgren of WebOriginal/BrowsHeldHigh famously pointed out, the ancient Greeks probably didn't have a word for blue, with Homer describing the sea as "wine-dark" and the sky as "bronze." Hence the film's infamously stylized color pallet, with yellow skies, dark purple seas, and almost no blue anywhere.

** Another point to Dilios making up stuff. The absurdity of the "creatures" in the film itself can all be attributed to Dilios' storytelling, making 10 foot Rhinos, Giants, God-Kings, Immortals etc. He is using hyperbole to rouse his men to a glorious fight with tales of the 300.
* When the Persian ambassador asks for earth and water this is actually a backhanded and realistic request for citizenship. Only Citizens of Sparta were allowed to own land in Sparta, so by asking for land, the Persian was asking to become a Citizen (and also a voting member in the council).
* One small omitted detail was that the Thespians and Thebans remained at the battle, while Dilios depicted the rest of them running in the tale. While this sounds like a dick move on Dilios's part, it actually makes sense since he wasn't at the battle and still haven't seen the corpses on the battlefield, so he was going on assumption. Furthermore, since the Spartans themselves thought it was brave of the Thespians and Thebans remaining to fight, it explains why Dilios didn't even consider the possibility of the non-Spartan forces remaining.

* Combined with EasyLogistics: Each of 300 Spartans only bring cape, loincloth, spear, shield and some helm in them. There's no mention of incoming and delivering foods, tents or blankets to them. Yet, they fight for more than a week with high spirits. The only possible explanation is Dillios omitted them from his propaganda work for Home Team. Then who send the food if it's actually delivered? Because, you know, the Spartan Senators back home dion't agree with war thing.
** First of all historically armies tended to get their food source from foraging the land and pillaging human settlements. Even for well-organized sophisticated military forces such as the Romans and the Qin Chinese, an actual logistics was the exception, not the norm, and even when a logistics system was in place food tended to be down the list of delivered goods. Pre-Napoleonic logistics focused mainly on getting equipment and weapons to a place. Considering the Spartans were already shown as training to be hunters, finding food at Thermopylae shouldn't be a problem. They just didn't show such boring bits onscreen. Secondly The Spartans were not the only soldiers in the battle. Other Greek city states (some who are either too pampered to give up luxuries even in war or were more sophisticated than the Spartans outside of war) such as the Athenians where in the battle. So its safe to assume the other Greeks were supplying Spartans with supplies. Also they fought for 3 days, not a week, and this Spartan unit was not a regular Spartan unit, it was the King's ELITE BODYGUARDS (which in real life would have been some of the most battle-hardened veterans and been trained far beyond the regular Spartans in thing such as assassination attempts on generals, etc). Undoubtedly they already fought in campaigns where food shortages happened and they would have been the equivalent of special forces in battle (who can fight non-stop for entire days, even weeks, without sleep and food assuming they are resupplied with ammo and water and they have backup support or some other ridiculous advantage such as terrain, etc).

* Spartans practiced infanticide but Ephialtes, a hunchback, survive childhood.

* Another case of FridgeBrilliance: The movie and the comic aren't regarded as very accurate in terms of historical events but rather a take on actual events put into a medium that makes for a fantastic story. At the end of the film the events are being told to Greek troops to hype them up for the approaching battle. The entire premise of the movie and the comic it was based on amounts to wartime propaganda to raise the moral of the home team!

* In ThreeHundred, Leonidas tells the traitor Ephialtes to live a long life. At first it seems that Leonidas is telling him "Good luck with your life," a moment later Ephialtes breaks down in tears. Why? He was trying to regain his father's spartan honor, and in Sparta, you where only respected if you fought and died in battle. - Strilight

* How, exactly, does a society where the entire male population does nothing but train for war not just fall over? Of course, what the film doesn't tell you is that the only reason this was both possible and necessary was that the Spartans were horrendously enthusiastic enslavers, and treated helots with little more respect than animals: part of the agoge, the Crypteia, involved the students randomly killing any helots they met. Even contemporary Greeks were appalled by the Spartans' wholesale enslavement of Messenia, but mostly because they were fellow Greeks.

* [[spoiler:When we see Leonidas being killed by a torrential downpour of Persian arrows (in a GoryDiscretionShot), we never hear an arrow touching Leonidas. We just hear them land on the ground.]]
** [[spoiler:When we see a close-up of Leonidas' corpse, we see arrows puncturing every point of his body except his head.]]

* In Athens they love boys. IN SPARDA THEY LOVE MEN!!!!