History Film / ThreeHundred

** 2 Problems. 1st, there are only 2 practical ways to reinforce/replace a man on a sheild wall the Spartan way.
*** (The Roman style of) As one line, stepping back while twisting sideways to let the line behind you charge to the front in your place, a move that would be prolematic to someone who has trouble lifting the Spartan sheild, or move it away for the man behind trying to relieve him.
*** The "Rotating" system where the man from the right or left most takes a step to the side and someone from the rear takes his place in the line from the right or left most....which moves Ephilathes AWAY from the Flank.
** 2nd. Throwing spears is a fine idea, but the Spartans normally didn't carry nearly enough spears for them to just throw at the enemy with impunity. He could collect spears from fallen enemies to throw outside the sheild wall of course, but that wasn't exactly his dream goal of fighting shoulder to crippled shoulder with the Spartans. His reaction to being told that instead of standing in the sheild wall and being a liability, he could fetch water and drag the wounded away from the battle, was to defect to the enemy. Its likely nothing less than being in the front would have satisfied Ephialtes.

** 2nd. Throwing spears is a fine idea, but the Spartans normally didn't carry nearly enough spears for them to just throw at the enemy with impunity. He could collect spears from fallen enemies to throw outside the sheild wall of course, but that wasn't exactly his dream goal of fighting shoulder to crippled shoulder with the Spartans.

** Throwing spears is a fine idea, but the Spartans normally didn't carry nearly enough spears for them to just throw at the enemy with impunity. He could collect spears from fallen enemies to throw outside the sheild wall of course, but that wasn't exactly his dream goal of fighting shoulder to crippled shoulder with the Spartans.

*** The "Rotating" system where the man from the man from the right or left most takes a step to the side and someone from the rear takes his place in the line from the right or left most....which moves Ephilathes AWAY from the Flank.
** Throwing spears is a fine idea, but the Spartans normally didn't carry nearly enough spears for them to just throw at the enemy with impunity. He could collect spears from the fallen to throw outside the sheild wall of course, but that wasn't exactly his dream goal of fighting shoulder to crippled shoulder with the Spartans.

*** (The Roman style of) As one line, stepping back while twisting sideways to your right in order to let the line behind you charge to the front in your place, a position what would leave Ephilates vulnerable on his left side as he could not protect himself with his crippled arm from that direction. Or move it away for the man behind him to relieve him.

** In any of the above cases, Ephialtes would have been either a sitting duck unable to provide decent cover for the sheild line.
** Throwing spears is a fine idea, but the Spartans normally didn't carry nearly enough spears for them to just throw at the enemy with impunity.

being in the left most

%% All Fridge Logic examples go in Just Bugs Me.

* AGodAmI: Xerxes

* KarmaHoudini: We never see the Ephors punished for selling out their country. It might be assumed that, once corruption in the Senate was discovered, it could be traced back to them.

* IdiotBall: Ephialtes is left out because he can't protect the man on his left with his crippled arm. The obvious solution would have been to put him in the leftmost place of his unit and the problem would have solved itself. Filing that, he could have just let him stand at the back and throw spears all day.

* IdiotBall: Ephialtes is left out because he can't protect the man on his left with his crippled arm. The obvious solution would have been to put him in the leftmost place of his unit and the problem would have solved itself.
.He didn't even have to let Ephialtes fight with the main group, just let him stand at the back and throw spears all day.

** As recorded/invented by Plutarch: Leonidas' laconic reply, "Come and get them!" when the Persians demand that the Spartans surrender their weapons. The original Greek, "Molōn labe", is the motto of the Greek I Army Corps, as well as the United States Special Operations Command Central.

*** Which would have been epic, since homosexual relationships were ecouraged in Sparta. A man who was older, or as old as another man and in a relationship with him, and do things like sucking his dick, would have been horrifying to the Spartans though; the sucker would have been beneath the suckee in social therms. Thus, the perfect insult for Xerxes.

* EliteMooks: The Immortals.

* AxeCrazy: Every other Greek believes the Spartans to be this.

* MadeOfIron: The Spartans...

* GodEmperor: Xerxes, reflecting an actual belief the ancient Persians had and explaining why the "making him bleed" bit was so dramatic. The Persians were mostly Zoroastrian, in real life.

'''King Leonidas''': You bring the crowns and heads of conquered kings to ''my city's steps.'' You insult my queen. You threaten my people with ''slavery and death!'' Oh, I've chosen my words carefully, Persian. Perhaps ''you'' should have done the same!\\

* FemaleSuccessIsFamily: A Persian messenger is demanding tribute from the King, when Queen Gorgo chimes into their chat. Then:

** There is more than a little irony in depicting Spartans as the champions of "freedom". The entire reason for their militaristic society was that they ruled the largest population of slaves in Greece and needed to be warriors in order to keep the [[SlaveRace Helots]] [[CareerKiller in line]]. They were in fact [[ItAmusedMe rather vicious]] towards the Helots, especially during certain ritualistic periods when killing them was actually encouraged in order to maintain a climate of fear. Also of interest is that Spartan society was a ''lot'' less democratic than depicted and placed virtually all power over individual lives into the hands of the state. However, the apparent assumption that audiences [[ViewersAreMorons could only handle clearly defined heroes versus villains]] meant cleaning out a lot of the [[GrayAndGreyMorality moral ambiguity]] that actual history [[SettingUpdate would impose on the story]].

** There is more than a little irony in depicting Spartans as the champions of "freedom". The entire reason for their militaristic society was that they ruled the largest population of slaves in Greece and needed to be warriors in order to keep the [[SlaveRace Helots]] [[CareerKiller in line]]. They were in fact [[ItAmusedMe rather vicious]] towards the Helots, especially during certain ritualistic periods when killing them was actually encouraged in order to maintain a climate of fear. Also of interest is that Spartan society was a ''lot'' less democratic than depicted and placed virtually all power over individual lives into the hands of state. However, the apparent assumption that audiences [[ViewersAreMorons could only handle clearly defined heroes versus villains]] meant cleaning out a lot of the [[GrayAndGreyMorality moral ambiguity]] that actual history [[SettingUpdate would impose on the story]].

*** The messenger did belong to Darius, but it was the Spartans who forced him into the well according to Herodotus, not the Athenians. However the Athenians were, likewise, visited by a group of Persian messengers who they threw into a pit "like criminals". The major difference being that the Spartans got the cool one-liner and the Athenians did not. Sadly, Herodotus does not mention the phrase "THIS IS SPARTA!!!" ever being uttered by anybody.

* AuthorTract: See WhatDoYouMeanItsNotPolitical below.

'''King Leonidas''': '''[[WhereDoYouThinkYouAre This! IS! SPARTA!]]'''

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotPolitical: Complicated again, as the film was made during The War On Terror, which Frank Miller supports, but the original comic was written decades earlier. Notably, though, people who take this tack disagree on whether the Spartans are meant to represent the US and the Persians Islamic terrorism, or the other way around; it could be seen as brave freedom-lovers fighting Middle Eastern tyrants, or as a vast empire underestimating a local population and getting its butt kicked. At a March 2007 press conference, director Zack Snyder found himself nonplussed when asked by a reporter whether King Leonidas was meant to be George W Bush or Osama bin Laden. Original author Frank Miller claims that his comic to a large degree was inspired by the 1962 film ''The 300 Spartans'', which is often considered to be a metaphor for the Cold War. Whether such a message was intended or not is far from clear.

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