History Film / ThreeHundred

* WetForDry: The dance of the Delphi.

** While not used during the invasion of Greece, the Persian army did utilize elephants in combat, always accompanied by handlers from their region of origin experienced in training them. Alexander the Great's historians make many mentions of their use as mobile siege towers, and he considered the best method of handling them to be essentially the manner depicted in the film- exploiting elephant's tendency to panic in battle to scare them off cliffs or through the ranks of soldiers behind them.

->''"SPARTANS! Ready your breakfast and eat hearty… for '''tonight! We dine! IN HELL!!'''"''

** ''"Well, let's give them something to drink. To the cliffs!"''

After much deliberation, Leonidas decides to defy the oracles' prophecies… sort of. He gathers three hundred of Sparta's finest soldiers (referring to them his "personal bodyguard") and marches them to the Hot Gates of Thermopylae, a narrow pass between the ocean and mountains. By rebuilding an ancient wall to bottleneck the vast Persian army, the superior fighting ability of the Spartans would conceivably make up for the small size of their army and give them a fighting chance at holding back the Persian Empire until Sparta's army can launch a full assault. Seven hundred or so other Greeks turn up as Leonidas and the 300 make their way to the Hot Gates, and a [[TheGrotesque hideously deformed Spartan man]] called Ephialtes also joins the convoy to ask Leonidas for a place on the battlefield (in exchange for information about an unguarded path that would leave the Spartans wide open to retaliation from behind). Leonidas refuses to accept Ephialtes into the fighting ranks--it would leave a weak point in their defense--and returns his attention to preparing for the battle.

* ActuallyPrettyFunny: During one of the arrow bombardments where the Spartans are under their shields, Astinos quickly remembers Stelios's BadassBoast towards the second Persian Emissary, and then starts laughing hysterically. Cue every Spartan laughing save for the Captain upon realizing the punchline.
-->'''Stelios:''' What the hell are you laughing at?\\
'''Astinos:''' Well, you had to say it!\\
'''Stelios:''' What?\\
'''Astinos:''' "Fight in the shade"!

* ArmorIsUseless: The Persian troops wear light armor that serves them well where they come from, but is utterly useless against wall of phalanx and spears in real life, although here is 300 half naked men with shields and mostly swords and some spears. Eventually we do see Xerxes' elite guard, The Immortals, wearing Metal chestpieces; but on several occasions swords and spears pierce through them easily, as if they weren't wearing armor at all.

--> *Astinos laughs*
--> '''Stelios''': "What the hell are you laughing at?"
--> '''Astinos''': "Well, you had to say it!"
--> '''Stelios''': "What?"
--> '''Astinos''': "Fight in the shade!"
--> *Several Spartans join Stelios and Astinos in laughter while arrows continue to fall*

* DyingMomentOfAwesome: [[spoiler:The 300-man troop making a LastStand against the Persians, while Leonidas hurls a spear at Xerxes, cutting his cheek open, basically telling him "'God-King' my ass!", before standing alone and single-handedly facing an onslaught of arrows.]]

* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: Captain Artemis as "Captain".

* AFatherToHisMen: Leonidas as this exchange proofs:

* FinalSpeech: Given by Delios just before the end of the movie, after which the combined Greek army rushes off to battle.

* HonorBeforeReason: As Leonidas would put it:

* HopeSpot: Leonidas's plan to concentrate the Spartan heavy infantry at a natural choke point works so well that they slaughter wave after wave of Persians, and they even manage to push back the much-hyped Persian EliteMooks (the Immortals) with minimal losses. Leonidas knows and accepts that he has come here to die, and knows that they have not just a small chance, but ''zero'' chance of holding off the vast Persian army forever. But after managing to beat back the Immortals, even though he didn't say anything, Delios observed that he could see a glint of hope in Leonidas's eyes - desperate, mad hope - but Leonidas spent all night visibly struggling to will it away, tormented with what he intellectually knew to be false hope.

%% All the talk about why Leondias turned away Ephialtes is on the Analysis page. Do not re-add it here.

* KneelBeforeZod: Xerxes demands that Leondias kneel to him as part of his sign of submission. Leonidas replies that he's killed so many of Xerxes' soldiers that his knee is locked up.

* OneLiner: Plenty. Stelios's "Then we shall fight in the shade," Leonidas's [[MemeticMutation "This is SPARTA!"]], "Tonight we dine in Hell!", and "Come and get them!" The narrator Delios receives a slightly more subtle joke: When asked about his one eye, he replies, "It's only an eye. The gods saw fit to grace me with a spare." Probably the most obvious one is Leonidas's comment that "There's no reason we can't be civilized" as his men butcher their wounded enemies. Spartans were expected to be able to express themselves in a concise, forceful and witty manner, which is where we get "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laconic_humour Laconic humour]]."

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ephialtes_of_Trachis In Greece calling someone an Ephialtes is akin to calling them a "Benedict Arnold" or a "Quisling", and is also a euphamism for nightmare.]]

* ScaryBlackMan: Xerxes is portayed in this fashion, with Brazillian actor Creator/RodrigoSantoro's skin having been darkened for the role.
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Unlike the Spartans, most of the other Greek forces decide to withdraw when they discover they've been outflanked by the Persians, who have discovered the hidden goat-path and are moving to surround them.

*** The quote the Delios gives at the end as the camera shows the dead bodies of Leonidas and his men on the battlefield is the ''actual'' epitaph that was written on the memorial the Greeks built there after the war ended (wording varies a bit by translation).

* TheSpartanWay: Showcased in the beginning with Leonidas's upbringing: burtal sparring, surviving in the wild, killing a wolf with a sharp stick, etc.

* StealthInsult: Leonidas' statement to Ephialtes after the latter's betrayal, "May you live forever," doesn't sound like an insult at first. It could be taken to mean that Ephialtes will never get the glory of an honorable death in battle. It could also mean that Ephialtes will "live forever" by always being remembered as a traitor. In fact, to this day in modern-day Greece, "Ephialtes" carries the same connotation that calling someone a "Benedict Arnold" would in the US.

* VaporWear: The oracle wears a very thin garmet.

* AdultFear: The terror in the Captain's voice when he realizes what's about to happen to his son is a very chilling sound that any parent can relate to.

--->'''Leonidas:''' This is where we hold them! This is where he fight! THIS IS WHERE ''THEY'' DIE!

* ArmorIsUseless: The Persian troops wear light armor that serves them well where they come from, but is utterly useless against wall of phalanx and spears in real life, although here is 300 half naked men with shields and mostly swords and some spears.

* AutobotsRockOut

--->'''Leonidas:''' This is where we hold them! This is where he fight! This is where they die!

* BadassBeard: Leonidas is the most prominent example.

** The Persian messenger ends up being kicked into the well, shortly after the infamous dialogue between him and Leonidas.

** The part about the disgruntled traitor showing the Persians the path through the mountains? He was a poor rural resident of the area hoping to get some sort of reward by welcoming his new Persian overlords. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ephialtes_of_Trachis In Greece calling someone an Ephialtes is akin to calling them a "Benedict Arnold" or a "Quisling", and is also a euphamism for nightmare.]]

*** It was actually a common saying among Spartan women to tell departing warriors to "return with your shield, or on it" (either return victorious, or return as a corpse carried back on your large shield by other soldiers, never surrender).

* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: The Spartans were not this heroic in real life.

* ProudWarriorRace: Why are 300 Spartans more of a threat than ten thousand troops from other Greek cities? Because the other troops are bakers, potters, bankers, and other civilian professionals who've been conscripted into militia duty. The Spartans are something that had never been seen on Earth before: Full-time ''professional soldiers''.

** At the end, Captain Artemis is [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice run through with a spear]], but he drags himself along its length to kill the soldier who did it. As this doesn't appear in the comic, Snyder said this was a homage to KingArthur fighting Mordred in ''Film/{{Excalibur}}'', one of his favorite films.

* AgeLift: In the graphic novel, boy Leonidas kills the wolf more than forty years prior to Thermopylae, implying that Leonidas is somewhere around his fifties. (Leonidas is indeed thought to have been born somewhere during the 540s-530s BC.) In the film, the wolf incident is instead stated to have happened more than thirty years before the events of the film, making Leonidas ten years younger than his comic (and real-life) counterpart. (Interestingly, Gerard Butler was 36-37 at the making of the film, making him ''younger'' than Leonidas both in the film and the comic.)

* ArtisticLicense: As Creator/FrankMiller put it, he doesn't let the facts get in the way of a good story. Neither does [[UnreliableNarrator Dilios]], who is clearly embellishing the tale more with each retelling.

* BlackVikings: The Persian emissary and a couple officers in their army are black. This is ''technically'' possible (though highly unlikely) given that the Persian empire reached Egypt, where black Nubian tribes were employed at the fringes. Becomes flat-out impossible later, when Xerxes reveals he also has some tribes from the DarkestAfrica in his army, despite his empire never reaching those places.

[[caption-width-right:300:[[PunctuatedForEmphasis THIS. IS. TV TROPES!!!]]]]

''300'' (''Three Hundred'') is a heavily stylized BattleEpic movie directed by Creator/ZackSnyder, released in 2006 and [[TheFilmOfTheBook based on]] a 1998 [[ComicBooks comic miniseries]] by Creator/FrankMiller. In spite of the heavy fantasy influence, the story is [[HistoricalFiction based on real events]]--[[YouShallNotPass the Battle of Thermopylae]] in 480 BC during the [[UsefulNotes/GrecoPersianWars Second Greco-Persian War]], as described by the ancient Greek historian Creator/{{Herodotus}}. Miller was introduced to the Thermopylae story through a 1962 SwordAndSandal movie version called ''Film/The300Spartans'', which influenced him deeply as a child. The comic and film are extreme examples of historical movies being VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory, as artistic license is liberally employed (more so in the film than in the comic).

The film version of ''300'' is heavily stylized thanks to Zack Snyder's SignatureStyle, its comic book roots and the story itself presented as a [[UnreliableNarrator morale-boosting story told by Dilios]]. While accurate in some historical aspects (mostly quotes), it is presented first and foremost as a visual Greek epic tale of glory, death, and [[RuleOfCool how battling half naked is strategically superior]]. Trying to justify or explain it is as futile as explaining why [[Film/{{Commando}} Matrix]] [[MST3KMantra should face a court-martial for property damage]]. Think of this as ''Film/SinCity'' (also by Creator/FrankMiller) with gold and red instead of white and black… and with far fewer prostitutes.

A prequel/midquel/sequel film, ''Film/ThreeHundredRiseOfAnEmpire'', was released in March 2014, and Miller made a sequel comic called ''Xerxes: The Fall of the House of Darius and the Rise of Alexander'' in 2018.

The film version of ''300'' is heavily stylized thanks to the Zack Snyder's SignatureStyle, its comic book roots and the story itself presented as a [[UnreliableNarrator morale-boosting story told by Dilios]]. While accurate in some historical aspects (mostly quotes), it is presented first and foremost as a visual Greek epic tale of glory, death, and [[RuleOfCool how battling half naked is strategically superior]]. Trying to justify or explain it is as futile as explaining why [[Film/{{Commando}} Matrix]] [[MST3KMantra should face a court-martial for property damage]]. Think of this as ''Film/SinCity'' (also by Creator/FrankMiller) with gold and red instead of white and black… and with far fewer prostitutes.

* TakeThat: Leonidas gets one aimed at Ephialtes. As the latter faces the former whilst the Persians are about to attack, Leonidas tells him, "May you live forever." This implies that Ephialtes will never know the glorious death in battle that Spartans highly value, as well as that his betrayal will be remembered throughout the generations. Leonidas essentially gave him the verbal equivalent of the finger. From Ephialtes' reaction, he takes it as such as well.

* PunctuatedForEmphasis: The iconic [[MemeticMutation "This! IS! SPARTA!"]]is the former TropeNamer. Gerard Butler really went the LargeHam route with the role. [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/ff/This.Is.Sparta_GN.to.film.jpg The comic]] did not have the emphasis, so this was [[ThrowItIn something Butler added himself.]] He does the same for "Tonight! We dine! In hell!"