The following are some pictures of Xerxes and his soldiers as depicted in Persepolis at the time and reconstructed based on those images. Compare these with what you see in 300. I’ve grown up in the Province of Persia and seen actual images of Persian soldiers and kings engraved in stone and I just can’t get over the humiliation that this stupid movie has brought us…
Xerxes:
Achaemenid Soldiers in Persepolis:
The image of a typical Persian soldier:
A reconstruction of the Persian Army during the Achaemenid Empire:
The Persian Empire at the time of Xerxes:
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Thoughts, Movies, Iran, Persian Culture, Persia, 300, Spartans
A Persian's Perspective 
“The following are some pictures of Xerxes and his soldiers as depicted in Persepolis at the time and reconstructed based on those images. Compare these with what you see in 300. I’ve grown up in the Province of Persia and seen actual images of Persian soldiers and kings engraved in stone and I just can’t get over the humiliation that this stupid movie has brought us…”
Please, you did not actually expect historical accuracy from Hollywood? Besides, the Greeks look just as ridiculous. In any case, welcome to my world, I am Italian-American, and I am so tired of movie Romans with English accents I cannot begin to express it in words!
after i saw 300, i wanted to compare with real historical image of persian and spartan. as you commented, these images looks quite different with the movie. especially appearance of king Xerxes. in the movie he looks like mad punk pearcing guy. what a silly. anyway thank you for your posting. good information. 🙂
Morons. There’s a reason we don’t all speak persian (farsi). Sparta had something to do with that, but they’re not the whole story. Figure it out – not only are you on the wrong path, but Islam is a lie. You think not? Repeatedly it says in Quran that Jesus birth of a virgin is a lie – that when God says a thing it is so. Well, what if God says a virgin s gonna have my baby? Did you ever give it a minute’s thought?
Get ready, ’cause God is coming for YOU.
david is sooo stupid
oh, so the religion you were born into is the one true religion? what a coincidence. besides persian is not arabic and i dont believe much here has a lot to do with islam.
all religion steams from one source. but the bible and quaran both say that jesus was born from the virgin mary. if God says somthing is goin to happen then it will happen no questions asked.
Actually, Ancient Persians weren’t Muslims, they were Zoroastrians. And Jesus’s mom was not virgin, Jews did not accept Jesus as a prophet because her mom had sex before she was married, so her son was frowned upon. I’m not a Muslim, I’m a Sikh and even in my religion it says Jesus had a father. Also, Farsi is a beautiful language, much better than English, which comes from vikings and barbarians, but Greeks are also cool.
You are sick and Jesus was born of a virgin.
Everyone is born virgin, and i’m not sick I feel well.
The Vedas and the Upanishads point to Jesus as the only Savior for humanity. You should read it yourself. The Upanishads talks about the “Word” existing with God and the Word was God. Jesus did not come down as a man to start a religion. Religion is man-made. His purpose was to be a sacrifice for us so that it will transform us in our hearts. Jesus was , is , and will be for eternity.
Dude that is Hinduism, which is a totally different religion. Also, Jesus was a Jewish prophet, he never would have known that a religion or a sacred book were going to made after him.
It’s actually a Germanic language. Viking were Scandinavian.
300 is a silly movie, and it is great to have realistic depictions. The movie is terrible history and it is really worrying that some people take it seriously -WOW!!. As for relating to Farsi to Islam?? gee David you seem very ignorant of history you really should know that Mohammed wasn’t born until over a thousand years after the Persian wars, in fact Jesus wasn’t born yet either. Your statements seem either ignorant or that you are contradicting the bible’s version of history (is that heresy or blasphemy?). You are also wrong, the Q’uran supports Jesus’ birth a number of times although it does deny him being the son of god. You should also be aware that Jesus is an important and respected prophet in Islam, which is why muslim beliefs are so similar to christian ones – I wonder if that’s why they sometimes there is so much hate??
The quran never denied jesus Virgin birth…maybe u should do a little research read surah Mary am god bless
In response to what “David” said –
Islam never said Jesus’s birth from the Virgin Mary was a lie. It talks about it clearly in the Quran. How about you actually pick up the Quran and read it before coming up with such things?
So you better get ready because God is coming for YOU.
I think Hollywood could have done a better job of depicting the Persians…it wouldn’t have killed them.
The movie 300 was adapted from a comic book. Its not supposed to be ENTIRELY historically accurate. You guys just need to relax and enjoy a movie for what it is…a movie.
I understand why hollywood fabricates things….to sell tickets…..I also understand that ignorance keeps our society racists, blind to facts, and unwilling to accept cultural diversity b/c of lies. There is a line that shouldn’t be crossed. I almost walked out of this movie b/c of it’s depiction of Persians. I was pissed. We can go to classrooms all across America and ask draw a Persian. Kids will draw what was in the movie 300. Thats how far behind in education America is. Hollywood (as well as the education system) needs to take responsibility. But that would be a perfect world….right??LOL
Actually, the movie 300 is very good “ENTERTAINMENT”..Grown-ups know that.That is why it is rated “R”..Little kids cannot form opinions about Persians and/or orgies from this movie because….THEIR PARENTS SHOULDN’T LET THEM WATCH IT. It is inappropriate for young minds,not only for its “poor depiction”(as you say) of what Persians look like, but because it is sexually graphic and violent from the opening scene. The real issue here is this, there were no kodak cameras around and a stone carving of a profile of what “may be” king Xerxes isn’t all that accurate a depiction, besides in the movie, Xerxes piercings were on the right side of his face.(hmm,maybe that is why the profile is of the left side,hahahaha)
oh please. Why don’t I, as a woman, walk out of every movie where women are depicted as whores and sex objects? I don’t, because I don’t waste my time looking for things to be insulted by. Besides, with all those beautiful male actors playing Spartans, who really bothered to look at the Persians in 300? Who even CARED about them? Well, other than people always on the lookout for things to get pissed about.
We are talking about a movie made from a comic book, for goodness sake, not a documentary.
“relax and enj0y a movie for what it is, a movie” You say that b/c your name is Tom……Mine is Zondwayo..(think about it)
I agree with Tom. You people need to relax and get over you religious crap. Just enjoy the damn movie. And for the Religious people like David…… More people have died in the name of a ‘God’ than anything else. Religion is nothing but brain washing for those that cannot answer the questions about where we all come from so they make up a bunch of crap to put in a book so they have morals and stories. Try to feel secure in just being human, there doesnt have to be a God to explain things you know…. Get a life!!
actually, i think some people need faith, but should not let it consume them, or insult other faiths. however, i used to be a devout christian. i look back on it with disgust, claiming all christian supremicists scum.
Wrong Rob. More people have died in the name of Communism and socialism than any religion ever dreamed of wiping out. And the kool-aid drinking leftists keep on making the same mistake over and over again because they just don’t understand human nature and the way it inevitably results in mass slaughter under their Marxist system. Lenin, Stalin, Hitler with National Socialism,Mussolini, Mao, Che, Castro, Kruschev, Chavez and many lesser figures just as lethal. Millions upon millions upon millions locked away for life, tortured and murdered, starved to death in the countrysides, worked to death in Siberia and the like.
Actually Rob, more people have died in the name of socialism, communism and atheism (by the tens of millions in fact) than have ever been killed in the name of religion. Get a Clue! Oh, and because you’ll ask, 1.2 million dead in the name of Christianity and Islam spanning over 250 years. 80 + million dead in the name of the above cited in just 100 years.
And to the rest of you. It’s just a movie….
That is incorrect. Any professor of history, or a 101 class will tell you otherwise. And to your “its just a movie” remark, this is absolutely true, but when you grow up in a suburb town in Texas like in my case and in many other similar states, you have social studies teachers in high school, who are also football coaches telling the class “its the most historically accurate film [they] have ever seen.” This is where people’s frustrations are founded.
Why is the movie 300 even being compared to religion? It’s a movie about a king who refused to live under a tyrant’s rule despite inner politics and fought back. Never did he struggle with religion. Why would anyone look for accuracy in a film based off of a graphic novel that even the creators have REPEATEDLY stated is only based off of The battle of Thermopylae with a lot of stylized artistic license. It was created for entertainment, not education. Tom, you said it best: it’s a movie people.
In the US, our understanding of the world is shaped through the media we consume. In 300, Persians are made to look like naked savages, and so that’s what Americans are going to think of Persians– past or present. Taking the current political climate into consideration, don’t you think this is a problem?
First of all, not all americans are that stupid. In fact, some of them are actually educated and DO NOT believe for fact everything they see on tv. And whose fault is it that SOME americans get their “education” from the media? If they are too stupid to pick up a book and learn the facts, then that is their problem. Am I supposed to not be able to watch an entertaining movie because too many idiots might think it is historically accurate?
I’m sick of all this politically correct bullshit. I’ll tell you what the major problem is here -younger americans, like you, have been totally brainwashed by the media into thinking they have to spend their entire life kissing the rest of the world’s ass.
I agree with Jennifer!
Jennifer, a typical answer from a typical American.
1. “Never underestimate the stupidity of the American people.” The US is filled with ignorants and for their own safety media should be careful with the kind of propaganda they’re spreading.
2. Just because you enjoy slander and the demonization of a whole people does not mean that everyone else should. We’re talking about a movie here that insults the heritage of 80 million people. But you have absolutely no clue of that, do you? Let me enlighten you: The day Iran (present day Persia) became Islamic (1979) was a black day for the entire nation. Many Iranians were forced to leave their country because they refused to accept Islam and many could not afford to do so, so they stayed. In any case, the only thing that they managed to preserve for themselves was their mutual pride in Iran’s great history and their hopes that one day Iran could be as great again. Iranian nationalism has always been opposed to Iranian conservatism (islamists), not that there are no muslim Iranians who cherish their history, but it’s a matter of priorities. Some Iranians, mostly those against the regime, express their objections by relying on Iran’s great zoroastrian history, whereas some Iranian muslims put Islam in the first place and Iranian heritage second. So generally one could say that those who take pride in their Iranian heritage are the ones against the oppressive Iranian Islamic regime. And then there comes a shitty movie like 300 that basically pisses all over their heritage and compares the conquests of the ancient Persians with present day Islamic expansion. This is an insult of the worst kind. What Miller did here was taking away everything that Persians still had left and the American people received it with delight. A people that was pro-American, anti-Islamic fanatism had just been pissed upon by American entertainment.
You may find it entertaining Jennifer, but that’s because you don’t think for 1 second who the real victim is. As do very few Americans, which is why you’re a typical selfish American and your comment does not surprise me the least.
It is interesting that no one has ever thought that the reason the the Persians were depicted as a people that were savages is that they were a force to be reckoned with and also people of color but again this was only a movie but it raises alot of questions and hopefully it will encourage others to really learn about history
i agree. a force to be reckoned with, and of color…must be a savage. LOL
OMFG Persians were people of color? They were part of the Proto-Indo-Europeans therefore not Asian or African! Like the Greeks and Romans (Italians),they had and still have a tan and dark wavy or curly hair for the most part,but NOT people of color! Most people think of a white European as pale,blond,blue eyed and everybody else are people of color…Well were not all like that! In fact blonds,blue eyed are the minority! What BS people learn these days…
And I agree about education VS movie fiction,it brainwashes kids like I was before I learned REAL history! Even what they teach in school is propaganda to a certain degree… Wonder why so many dumb people get called racist when the fault lies with the system that didnt teach them well!
Very true, but it is just a movie. Besides everyone on their own is looking the guy up to see if it is indeed true, so there’s no need to get worked up about it.
Movies like any other art form are meant to evoke emotion, thought, and inspiration. The emotion, thoughts and inspiration that the BEHOLDER chooses to feed are the responsibility of that beholder, NOT the artist.
so choose what you feed to help create the world you wouyld like to live in.
A very entertaining movie. Don’t try to look too much into this. The uniforms and personalities may not be historically correct, but I think this is simply innocent ignorance and creativity. What about the soundtrack? This wasn’t the music the Spartans or Persians were listening to.
i would never call it “innocent ignorance.” There is a machine behind this. Big Money. It’s teaching ignorance for the love of a dollar. Yes, it was creative but there is a way to be creative without being insulting. I watched “American History X” and never felt insulted. I watched “Roots”, never felt insulted. Why? Those movies were interesting yet not propaganda.
whoever is on this subject ought to look up the older movie starring kirk douglas- for the day that it was made in, they tried to be as accurate as possible. it was good. loved 300- it still has points although not culturally accurate. although there were some black Persians but Xerxes certainly was not. ANyone brought up on the bible knows better.
I think it is kind of disturbing they way they protrayed the Persians because most of our problems in the middle east are aggravated by misunderstanding of the people. It was just weird costumes, the persians were casted as morally degenerates, which is natural because the movies creator was establishing the spartans as heroes. What disturbs me most growing up in America there were two highschools in my town and one of them were the spartans and the other was the trojans. Has anyone ever heard of school in american where they were the Persians?
Oh and as far as Xerxes being a tyrant. I would like to know what’s the difference between what he did and Alexander the Great. Why isn’t Alexander the Great written historically as a Tyrant. I personally think the movie is great if you like violence, but for historical accuracy it wasn’t, it was totally spun. Yeah there was a war because two nations feared each other. Man has been so stupid to fall for that same old war over and over since then. I personally have no desire to entertain the idea that Spartans or Persians are villians.
Well it’s because it is like brown people vs white people. Brown people would side with Persians, while whites would support Greeks. It depends on where you are from. Besides, Cyrus the Great basically is the person that changed Humans from animals to humans, by freeing slaves, rebuilding the Solomon temples, building the first charter of Rights, respected woman, and was the first empire to accept woman as equal. The Persian Empire also contained 45% of the world population.
300, GREAT MOVIE! Yea the Persians dress and overall look was inaccurate. Spartan look and training pretty dead-on. You know what though…its based of a comic book…!? You don’t see me getting pissed off cause they portray Superman as the way he is, or Spiderman, Batman the way they are….? I’m a white boy from States, and I know that there are plenty ME’s out there who clown out culture…so WHAT…! Just go work out…and have a great day!
you are crazy spartans look ad dress are WAY OFF!
i dont care if its historically accurate or not, anything would have been an improvement over the flowery dress and blue and orange chef hats.
it’s not a flowery dress, it’s a toga ornated with emblems of the sun. If you honestly think that the Greeks looked the way they show them in movies you’re very naive. The Spartan helmet which so many people fancy was not even used by the entire Spartan army. Most of them used to wear a goblet-like helmet, something comparable to a bronze or iron jewish keppel.
i see perpolis & iranian.i compare between picture and move . i think 300 in not true at all. this move is joke. iam sorry for hollywood.
they think that people are stupid .
sorry to disappoint you but people ARE stupid…And Hollywood knows it and uses it to its own advantage. Probably to launch that invasion on poor Iran!
Hollywood is not a history lesson, it is here to entertain, and “are you not entertained?” sorry about the quote it had to be done. so please chill out, 300 as a movie had some epic battle scenes and I personally enjoyed the storyline. So please stop taking everything so seriously.
um..remember the giant monsters part? or like….the huge beast? or any number of ‘fictitious’ parts of the movie…come on.its a movie,if your that pissed maybe you should NOT watch them…its pretty easy.i dont like listening to endless hours of crap so i dont read blogs…real easy and that movie was bad ass,which i guess you missed while fact hunting a comic book based film….
you guys are gay if your gonna comment on history
You just commented so you’re gay.
Well the movie is about how a small bunch of fanatics humiliated a superpower in a mountainpass.
Viewed that way it could be seen as pro-Al Qaeda propoganda.
But while I agree it’s just a movie couln’t they have just made a fantasy movie and had done with it? Why use real names?
The Italian Youth fascist movement used a Spartan helmet with the slogan, “Join us and we won’t be only 300” as a recruitment poster and the timing of the movie is interesting given that the US is planning to attack Iran.
Das Juden was “just a movie” but look at where that led.
“Figure it out – not only are you on the wrong path, but Islam is a lie. ”
Islam Did NOT Originate in Persia you dumb Bitch! In fact THIS IS CENTURIES BEFORE THE BIRTH OF MUHAMMAD.
“Get ready, ’cause God is coming for YOU.”
Sorry to disappoint you, but NOBODY CARES.
” Well, what if God says a virgin s gonna have my baby? Did you ever give it a minute’s thought?”
Until he tells me HIMSELF, I wont think about it for a single second. But hey, since God created women he sure most now how to satisfy a woman in bed! :lol I wonder how long his penis is.
Stop it… all of you! Your preachers are idiots, they do not speak for me, and I sure as Hell don’t speak TO them. Organized religion is shit. And those who follow it are fools. I am within you, if you need another carbon based life form to tell you this, then you are a pathetic waste of space. That prick Bush and his Cretin followers will have a special place in Hell reserved for them. Me damn it!
Don’t impersanate God, even as a joke. That’s lower than Bush.
It’s a narrow line we walk between creative freedom & discretion — on the one hand it is just a movie, based on a graphic novel based on a movie already inaccurate; but images can have a lasting effect on the psyches of folk; & I, a Westerner in ethnicity & nationality, have a glowing admiration for the history of the Persian peoples throughout the ages, from Zoroaster to Rumi. It is a puzzlement.
My beef is with the people who take the movie AS a history lesson — who say thus-and-so proves there’s an attack on “the West”. And given the above admiration for the Persians I can understand why many would be upset.
I must’ve got off point; anyway it’s a precarious path along the mountain of interpersonal relations.
i absolutely LOVED that movie!!! was it ficticous as hell? of course it was..when i saw how fuggan huge Xerxes was compared to Leonidas,i fell out laughin!! but it was carnage from beginning to end!! that was a MAN’S war,and i couldn’t take my eyes off it! to me it was very entertaining,and i also know it was JUST a movie..some of you in here need to lighten up and enjoy the show…
1.Dont talk about Islam because muslims kill americans. They kill people who mess with their gov’t and people. Find out what Jihad means people.
2.They aint depict the spartans or the persians right.
3.Get over hollywood doing what they did. Its hollywood.
4.And Abelardus…what are you a persian scholar from ancient babylonia. You sound retarted.
Wow people are ignorant. Did anyone happen to see what year this battle took place? btw. The orginal persians were white. Sorry to break the news.
We weren’t white dumb-ass. We are Caucasian but not white, but we are fair. And this before we were mixed with Greeks, and then Arabs.
hi im iranian and sorry about 300 move and hollywod and everey one trust the 300 beacuse its a big lieeeeeeee iranian ar kind people and relax and happy its not realy
i’m persian…
300 was JUST a movie people!
remember how kazags responded Borat!
it’s just a movie! Entertaining and Actually NOT REAL!
It’s called artistic liberty. “300” was made this way to attract more viewers because a lot of people find history a boring topic.
To Jen: It was the Spartans running around naked in the movie, not the Persians and both sides saw each other as barbaric.
To Terry: Alexander is written as a megalomaniacal tyrant who killed more men than all the Greek wars of the past century had. Even in the movie it showed him driving onward and his men beginning to mutiny. He was away from Greece for 10 years before dying. Sounds pretty tyrannical to me.
To Shantell: The Persians were NOT a “people of color.” The major ethnic group of the area during that time was Indo-European. Iranians are Indo-European.
If anyone was genuinely interested in finding the truth they would have researched it and not taken what 300 said word for word. We all knew it was ficticious with a factual base. Love it or hate it; nobody cares.
So were ancient Persians light brown or white?
Thomas, what you said was the biggest bullsh*t I have ever heard of.
1. Is christianity so different? What happened to the KKK? At least islam says to kill to save a life, instead of kill to be superior like the christians.
2.The spartans came out of a book called the AMERICAN spartans. they call the new marines spartans.
3. Did you know that persians and iranians are the same thing? read a history book.
4. The spartans pose heroic but they call persians all cruel names and said “we should kill all persians!”
5. This is a movie that was trying to wage war against iran.
In my history class, they taught us that the persians treated their conquered peoples somewhat well, while the spartans had slaves that outnumbered the free spartans nearly 3 to 1. The reason why every spartan was a soldier was because they had slaves doing the actual work for them.
The Spartans soon became irrelevant when Philip II of Macedonia conquered them. The spartans might have been well trained, but they had poor tactics (as in, they were trained for phalanx shoving matches and not actually in killing other people, the Macedonians basically slaughtered them, and Philip II’s son eventually carved out the biggest empire at that time.
No, Cyrus the Great and his Persian Empire was bigger than Alexander the Great’s empire
@Arioch: a few remarks, if I may.
– Persia was an empire, but it’s structure differed somewhat from what many people expect from that word. As far as I understand, as long as “subjugated” people on the empire’s borders paid tribute, didn’t go against the emperor and could send soldiers for the army, they were mostly left alone. I’ve been interested in Thracian history, and many historians say the Thracians were never really subjugated as the map above implies – some tribes just allied themselves with Xerxes, paid their tribute (which considering how rich Persia was probably wasn’t as much), and didn’t bother any further.
As for the spartans’ tactics, the phalanx which they excelled was widely used afterwards. What the Macedonians had was a weapon that was useful to fight spearmen – the Sarissa pike – and a good cavalry. With phalanx combat being stationary in which 2 sides of spearmen tried to jab at each other, the usefulness of cavalry was obvious. OTOH, you do have a point – the quality of the Spartan tactics was called in question by the Thebans, who used a wedge formation. However, this formation meant putting their best soldiers in greatest danger – which, ironically, cost them their best general fairly early on. The spear wall, on the other hand, remained useful until the middle ages.
I actually really liked the 300 movie. I don’t see why people would get so upset over a movie especially considering that the descriptions of the persians in the movie itself were taken from a Spartan point of view who were also fictional characters. So to the person who started this blog… Just calm down, we americans don’t think people are bad because of a movie. We think people are bad when they start to riot because of what THEY saw in a movie, you follow? Anyway, to the rest of you posting stupid comments and saying “no body cares” you are victims of your own ignorance, thats all I have to say about that I’m sure you will NOT understand. Finally to you anti-religious and Over-religious people, this is a blog about a movie not about religion, I happen to be a christian and I know better than to comment on other people’s religion or to use my own to prove a point about a movie which history I know nothing of. Because lets face it Scientists and Historians do NOT have all the answers they did not live back then and most of their findings revolve arownd theories, which is more than I can say for the rest of you morons trying to sound like you know for a fact what the persians and spartans looked like.
I agree with the quotes posted above. Hollywood is definitely not a history lesson, but unfortunately the youth of today believe everything they see and today’s kids wouldn’t even bother to research and study the real history to find out the true facts. Why should they when playing video games is more “fun”? Media controls the youth and the youth of today controls our future. The society that Orwell described in 1984 will actually arrive in a very near future. And that’s for sure.
“He who controls the past, controls the future”.
I must admit that this movie was entertaining but it is a dishonor to all the brave men and woman during that era. Hollywood once again succeeded to portray the Persians as savages not to mention the slavery and the view on women in ancient Persia that the Spartans had. Cyrus was the first king who put an end to slavery and dictatorial oppression, his goal was to exterminate such inhuman traditions around the world and the Persian Empire was democratic in nature and was the first ever Federal system in the world! Each State had absolute internal autonomy to do as they pleased in their own internal affairs. It was a primitive form of Federalism in comparison to today’s Federal systems, but imagine back then when everyone including China, Egypt, Greece and Rome practiced slavery and colonialism, Persia granted internal autonomy to all states.
Women in Ancient Persia were very valuable beings; they often had important positions in the Courthouse, Ministries, Military, State Department, and other official administrations. Also many Persian cities were ruled and were totally under control of women.
The truth is that after the Persian-Greek wars ended, Persian kings successfully played the Athenians and Spartans against each other for over 150 years. What Persia did not achieve through war, it always obtained through diplomacy!
Please visit my website if you are interested in Persian history during that era. I love ancient history as a hobby.
http://milli.110mb.com/queens.htm
http://milli.110mb.com/persepolis.htm
Hollywood is definitely not a history lesson, but unfortunately the youth of today believe everything they see and today’s kids wouldn’t even bother to research and study the real history to find out the true facts. Why should they when playing video games is more “fun”? Media controls the youth and the youth of today controls our future. The society that Orwell described in 1984 will actually arrive in a very near future. And that’s for sure.
“He who controls the past, controls the future”.
XERXES THE GREAT about SPARTANS:
“I am Xerxes, Emperor of Persia, son of Darius, grandson of Cyrus the Great. My grandfather Cyrus prevented slavery and liberated the Jews from their Babylonian exile and let them return to Judea and rebuild their temple. I myself married Esther, a Jew. I come from a long line of believers in the One God preached by Zarathustra, our Persian prophet whose teachings have influenced the Jews during their exile among us. I refer specifically to their concepts of Satan, Heaven and the future Messiah which weren’t part of their pre-exile belief system and are clearly borrowings from our Persian religion.
I am now embarking on the conquest of Greece, a backward region populated by primitive polytheists who worship capricious amoral deities and practice absurd religious rites. But my ancestors and I, having already conquered many Ionian Greeks, respect Greek philosophers and indeed have many of them in our employ. We have established a multi-ethnic empire. In that empire, Greeks fill important roles from the Mediterranean to India.
>>These Spartans confronting us at Thermopylae are cruel men who annually kill for sport! And make war on the defenseless helots (slaves) that live around them. They have nothing to tell us Persians or the world in general about freedom!”
one things you butt hurt individuals don’t understand is that 300 isn’t supposed to historically correct. it’s an entertaining comic created for just that.
it was a great film.. because of that movie, my teacher in history thougth that xerxes is a gay?
hallo das ist blod ich bin xerxes und ich seche das.
nice blog….. thank you for sharing…..
I recommend the book Creation by Gore Vidal. It’s a survey of the different empires around at that time; well researched and pretty informative, in a shiny historical-fiction wrapper…
And ps- for those of you concerned about sexuality, look into the Spartans’ wedding practices and habits of pairing youths with older males through their training years.
cool pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
you have good information and cool pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
فیلم 300 یک دروغ بزرگ بود که در تفکر ما ایرانیان نمی گنجید
که خشیار شا شاه صلح و عدالت را اینچنین ظالم و تاریک نشان دهند بروید کتیبه های او پدرش را بخوانید تا پی حقیقت وجودی آن بزرگ مرد تاریخ را بدانید.
300 not relly
OHIOBUCK , why don’t you go eat a potato for a buck. And Mr. NOBODY why don’t you join OHIOBUCK for some of that “freedom fries”! Invite form the above list as you please.
The movie 300 is a propaganda tool promoting “Western Tradition” and their so-called “Democracy”. In reality, this tradition has caused nothing but misery around the globe. For example look at the history of the American-Indians. This comic movie is also racist in essence and far from the reality. The Greek and Persian wars were triggered when Greek agitators burn down “Sardis” during the reign of the Darius the great. The Persians won the battle of Thermopylae and the outcome of the war since Greeks stopped their agitation and did not dare to venture into Persian territories for almost 200 years. Alexander was lucky to find the empire at its decline during the reign of Darius III. Had he dared to challenge Darius the great, Alexander-Heracles the self-proclaimed son of Zeus would not have made it across the sea. A final note: The movies’s historical account did not surprise me much since it is mostly based on Herodotus version of events. This father of European history either did not know numbers or he is the biggest lier of all times.
In all the comments I’ve seen here not one person has seemed to grasp the basic premise of this film. The whole thing is being told from the perspective of the Spartan, Dilios, as he relates the story of the Battle of Thermopylae to other soldiers the night before the Battle of Plataea. Dilios naturally tells the story so as to make the Persians seem both more & less then human, thus making the Spartans that much more heroic. Xexes is shown as an imposing figure but at the same time less then masculine especially compared to the uber-macho Leonidas. The traitor Ephialtes is given a twisted, pathetic shape. The entire tale is Spartan propaganda, told by Dilios to inspire the other Greeks to defeat the Persians. As such it’s not meant to be historically accurate. In any case, comparing that time with our own era simply doesn’t work, because the cultures have all changed. The Persians of Xerxes time have as much in common with modern Iraqis as Celtic Druids have with the Queen of England. It’s just a movie.
LISTEN I’M HALF SPARTAN, BUT I TOO WOULD BE UPSET. THE PERSIANS WERE VERY GOOD WARRIORS TOO. THE SPARTANS WERE TOUGH AND VERY COURAGEOUS AND WERE SOMETHING OUT OF THE ORDINARY, BUT THE REASON THE PERSIANS WERE SHOWN THAT WAY WAS THE MAKER WHO DIED AND DIDN’T SEE THE SUCCESS OF HIS OWN MOVIE, MADE IT TO EMBARASS THEM. AMERICA DOES NOT LIKE IRAN SO THINK ABOUT IT. YOU THINK AMERICA OR THE PRODUCER LOVES THE GREEKS NO!!!! THAT IS NOT THE REASON THE MOVIE CAME OUT THE WAY THAT IT DID. THERE WAS TRUTH BUT ALSO SOME MADE UP RIDICULOUS THINGS TOO!!!!
WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH THESE PEOPLE BRINGING UP RELIGION? EVERYONE ATTACKS OTHERS FOR THEIR RELIGION. ITS SO STUPID.
Ok, 300 was a good action movie, stupid but entreteined. I personally admire the persian culture, has many others in history, didnt Alexander adopt persian rites after conquering the empire?
It is true that the Spartans where slavers that kill for sport, it is also truth that the Persian want to conquer Greece and add it to their rule, but also is truth that the first human rigths chart came from Persia, not Greece.
I like the movie but I still think that the invasion of USA on middle east is an attemp to build a new empire, the movie is good, the accuracy is bad, and Bush stills a jerk, but why dont the Persians make a movie with their side, one that depict the spartan has barbarian enslavers(as they where), and the Persians has a great civilization(as they where), and Xerxes has a megalomaniac guy who want to extend his territories(as he and Alexander where)
I’m a teacher. A number of you hit it correctly – people think that what they see in the media is factual and then teachers like me have to go through and correct the misinterpretations. Judging by the number of mistakes in what was said, people are not educated about history (e.g. Indo-European is a language group, not a racial group, so, yes, the Persians were not white. Neither were the Greeks per se, as they are Mediterranean and have a very mixed geneology. Also, Islam did not exist for almost a millenia after Thermopoly, so that shouldn’t enter into any of this ). The movie had some fantastic cinematography, but the harm that it did to peoples’ perceptions of the battle and the Persians was unnecessary. If productions want to do a totally ficticious movie, then that is what should be done. Don’t hang the idea that it is history when the only history is in the name.
I am Persian of Aryan descent and I actually loved this movie. In fact, I like the way Xerxes was portrayed, because:
1. The Brazilian guy who played him, with the make-up and all looked VERY authentically Persian. It was like looking at a tall cousin or something… Regardless of the stone carvings @ Persepolis, no one can deny that guy looked ethnically Persian lol
2. The movie was hands down the sweetest thing ever… the CGI and special effects were mind boggling.
The only problem the movie really had was trying to hint that Persians disrespected women… which is entirely untrue, being that:
1. Many of the Immortals and military officials of the Achaemenid Empire were WOMEN. Whereas in Sparta women were given the status in likeness of slaves, but Persia did not differeintiate between male and female in status, especially because of Zoroastrian religion.
and
2. One of Xerxes wives was an Immortal Commander and actually gained many victories in his name.
hey guys.I’m persian.and I have something to tell you.the 300 is very bad movie i think.because no iranian is so bad.we persian did not have any monsters.we are not gay at all in all of our life.the historical persia is very great and powerfull.we are not black or indian.we are very kind and good people.and about relegions and islam.please don’t talk like this about any relegions.first read and think and search about the relegions and then talk about this.we are people not hate any people in the world.all of we persian in history have long facial hair and long hair.we use gold powder in our facial hair for design.please don’t bad with a country.first search about the persian and then talk.
we persian love all of the people in the world.
Regardless if the movie is based on a comix its conception is quite unfair!!! Apparently Mr. Frank Miller the author of “300” was completely ignorant. Speaking about “freedom” and all those big words when the Spartan society is a classical example of injustice and oppression! The helots, the majority of the population in Laconia and Messenia, was treated like subhuman, forced to wear hats made of dog skin as distinctive mark ( to remind them that they were nothing more than dogs for the Spartans), born to serve and do all the hard work- agriculture, livestock ect., unlike the higher social rank Spartan citizens. Some historical sources say that helots were slaves, but others describe them as an ethnicity in inferior position, which implies a form of racism and a Spartan ideology quite similar to the Nazis. The helots were whipped for no reason, just as a ritual, to remind them their status and that they have no rights. Those who could not serve and work because of any physical condition were immediately put to death. According to Plutarch, the Spartans could kill helots during a certain period of the year without explanations and any consequences. The helots were strictly forbidden of having weapons, and any form of rebellion, like the Earthquake revolt for example was brutally crushed. Sparta is more of a role model for a totalitarian country or a concentration camp. my opinion about “300”- Spartan “freedom fighters”, my a.., there was never such a thing!
Persians are different from Iranians -don’t confuse the two. Persians of the Parsa province and Shushtar (Susa) province speak a dialect different and much closer to Parsi-Sanskrit, than they do with Farsi, which is a mix of Arabic, Turkish, and Avestan.
hey wats up
heyyy i love sooooooo muuuuuuuccchhh
Islam is so false and wrong. Christianity is the only way to heaven. Oh, and 300 is a great movie. So. all of you just shut up.
And persians suck!!!!!!!! They got destoyed. hahahahahaha
Josh… the language you speak… comes from our language. Indoiranian. We actualy not destoyed. You are us. We influenced you fool blind of person totaly from top to toe. And… persians did conquer and burned greek. Have a nice day.
lol josh.
btw why are you people even saying “Xerxes was not black?”
he wasn’t black in the movie. the actor that played him was white.
the movie kicked major ass anyway. but its based on a comic. so dont expect it to be accurate. i was actually surprised to find some things very accurate, as i am writing a 25 page paper about the battle of Thermopylae. but yea some things were inaccurate, but they were supposed to be.
and dont bring fuckin america hating politics into this conversation or religion. they hav nothing to do with this subject. assholes.
As a history teacher, I used clips from 300 to bring some of the battle alive for students, BUT we had a long discussion before and after about how Hollywood misportrayed the losing side, aka, the Persians, as monsters. We talked about how racism was a factor in the negative portrayal of Xerxes and his army.
Unfortunately, I know many who watch the movie don’t take the time to analyze these things, and it helps deepen their misunderstanding of the Persian people and their history.
xerxes wasn’t even muslim. because that religion didnt even EXIST then. they were zoroastrian. that means the worshipped ahura mazda. its actually quite similar to christianity. figure it out, david. and the persians were actually pretty famous for their religious tolerance. damn learn some history.
Professor Anatoly Fomenko in his 7 volume
“History, Fiction or Science” proves that what is known as ancient Greece, Rome & Egypt were all
fabricated in the Renaissance.
tnx for pictures!
zinda bod halki fors!
the spartens just lied to put themselves in a good position.thats what alot of people do.the persians just seem to powerful for 300 men to beat 3000 of them.LIES! 300 is so FAKE and OVERATED.
i am part native american half nigerian one third from the virgan islands.i am not persian and i totaly think 300 made the persians look so bad.they made spartens look like the good guys(wich they werent).i am sure persians didnt treat women like that.i dont think the persians showed the heads of kings to scare people.spartens probably did that.
cock is so good inside me.
to all you guys who say 3oo isnt supposed to be anything about history and its just a movie.YOU ARE POOP!
to you white boys who say fu$#%@ bull%$#@ $$%& you.to you guys who say commen sense im happy there are people like me who now the truth.the guy who called himself GOD,i understand what your saying but its PRETTY MEAN.oh whoever the fudge ravenous woman is GO FIND A 5 FOOT COCK THAT KILLS YOU.litteraly. have fun with your orgasm.
oh melkitsedek i did have fun with my orgasm.last night a 10 inch cock went wonderfully inside me.UUUUUH it felt SOOOO GOOOOOOOOOOOd.he F$%#d me up last night.I THOUGHT I WAS IN HEAVEAN.the guy who called himself god,did you see me there.to the guys who have big cock I Am RAVENOUS FOR YOU!i am waiting for my multiple orgasm.my pussy won,t let you down.
josh is f$#$%$n BULLSHIT.i hope you find a place in hell with Bush.
revenous women my dick is gargantuin.what are you waiting for.FUCK ME.
you know, it really suprises me how worked up people can get over hollywood.
once we get offended, we seem to forget that hollywood is a money maker… their top priority is to write a script that will MAKE THEM MONEY.
we should not be offended by movies such as 300, instead we should enjoy it… or not.
I actually find it amusing that an Iranian is offended by the portrayel of the Persians. They may be made off to look worse than what they actually were, but seriously… the main reason that Thermopylae was so legendary, was not because of the Persians, but because of the actions of the Spartans.
The movie 300 focused on the Spartans actions… TO MAKE MONEY!!!
if you actually look at it objectivly, you would realise that the Persians are made to look more ‘evil’ then they really were, just as the Spartans were made to look heroic.
this movie is a moralistic view… not a historically correct view… its a story of the underdog… one that we can all recognise with… and the people that bring religious arguements into it, well, religion has nothing to do with this movie…
sure, I am Catholic, not Muslim, so i immediatly look at that particular arguement from a different point of view… but come on people…
As for the Persians not being a coloured race… people… just look at the size of Xerxes empire… half the countries that he had power over were coloured background… Xerxes drew his army from all nations subjective to him… of course some of his army is going to be coloured.
Oh and Terry, the reasons the schools mascots were the Spartans and the Trojans…. is would be becuase unlike the Persians, and Agammemnon, they didnt try to use power and shear size of the army to defeat their opponenets….
As I said before anything along the lines of the Spartans, Trojans, even Egyptians in some aspects… its not told historically, but morally…
and people need to realise that before they jump to the conclusion that everyone is discriminative!
Can we stop with all the views on religion? I live in a free country where people are alowed their views and such, but can people PLEASE resist the urge to put people’s religious views down? What someone believes in should be expressed in as un-biased way as possible.
As for the movie, I thought that it was good for what it was, a movie. It was entertaining, if not a bit (oh ok, really) gross. But I found it to be a lot more historically correct than The 300 Spartans. I mean, 3oo actually got the feel of the fact that life in the Ancient World, especially in Sparta, was cruel and war based. It was always violent and the way to get what you want was to fight for it. It was the race of the fittest. And that is fact.
What I disagree with is the propaganda of the beliefs and imagery that Hollywood chose for the Persians. But you have to realise that they were doing it from the Greek’s perspective, and sometimes, if not all the time, it’s biased. All of our acounts from Themopylae and the Persian Wars are from the Greeks. We only get one side of the story, and most of the time it’s the western point of view. It happens in the World Wars too, only the western, never the eastern. We can’t believe in everything History books tell us.
First of all, Thanks a lot for your described expressions.
I think that thses Hollywood films such as Alexander and 300 have been built as to protect the political issues rather than historical events and results, in brief.
Yours truly,
An Iranian College Student
if you look at the depiction of xerxes in the movie, it seems obvious that the director has tried to entertain us by dressing him crazily. so there’s no point in comparing it with the real xerxes. one more thing the director seems to have done is he has tried to match the stylish name xerxes with his looks.
If you all only knew how Xerxes I. look like today you would be shocked, and he was born this time not in Persia, but in Brazil, ironically enough and not for no reason the one who plays him in the movie is also from Brazil.
Áchashwerosh
Hi, thank you for your web page. I just watched part of “300” and I was just appalled at how the Persians were presented. I figure we have to lionize the Greeks because America once drew on Greek standards to found our nation, but Persia was a great empire too and it is just…. appalling…. ridiculous… damn stupid…. how they made them for the movie. There was certainly enough of beauty and the exotic in the real history that would have looked good in a movie. I am so, so sorry and embarrassed !!
Hi,
I don’t totally agree with the Movie, but to say we lionized the Greeks because America once drew on Greek standards to found our nation is missing an important point. America(as an Art teacher and teacher of Art History)has drew upon several nations and cultures. We even have Persian influence within the archeticture of our nation. Although the 300 were beaten, the fact is, historically, when the 300 saw that they would lose, all were sent away save the 300, who would die rather than run. Regardless of sides, the 300 held there ground valiantly. Greece was anything but perfect, but it was a democratic practice and I believe the movie is celebrating the 300’s love of democracy and the well acknowledged amazing stand that the 300 took. Although I can’t say the Persians were historically represented, I felt they were represented as any comic based movie would represent the opposition. I felt Xerxes was awesome. His power and garb was soooo coool. The immortals were historically way off but again, represented, at least in my eyes, as really amazing, powerful men. Xerxes did not promote democracy and a comicbook writer who is American is going to see the 300 as the ” good guys”. I felt the “Orgy scene ” was of no value what so ever. But over all, I believe…my opinion, too much is being read into this movie. Call me naive, I don’t think this was a politically motivated movie. Just as telling of a great battle that took place from the view point of the 300 as the “good guys”. I completely understand that to other cultures, the Spartans were seen as the “bad giys”. I get that. Let them make a movie. I’m not being sarcastic. I have no desire to cause a riff to swell between any people.
Most of you people posting to this blog need a vacation. I feel sorry for the lot of you. You can’t watch a movie and be entertained or not entertained without reading some kind of diabolical plot into it. You honestly think people would be influenced to go to war because of some dope Hollywood Film? My God you people need psychological help. People like you breed violence and hatred. People like you are the reason the world is in the violent, misguided shape it is in. Get A Grip.
YES!!! thanks for your view. Refreshing.
Nobody can go to hell because hell is booked solid with christians and muslims already!!!
Hey Dumbass David.
Persians were Zoroastrian, they were not muslim.
Go read History then talk shit.
How about this. The story in 300 was told by a Greek survivor. What are you going to tell? The other guys were a bunch of pussies so they wiped us out.
Same point I tried to make. The surviviors write the history. Thanks
i think its funny how this has become a christianity/islam debate. neither country was either. as far as the movie goes i didn’t like it because i thought it was full of poor acting. people make a valid point it was a movie based off a graphic novel. i just didn’t like the movie because of the lack of qaulity acting and small personal reasons like the inability to march. The story does have a historical base. And the greeks did put some major hurt on the persians. its easy enough to google.
I loved the movie. It is a wonderful work of Art. As far as history… It was not 300 against the Persians. It was 300 Spartans with another 7,000 troups that fought. It was only after the betrayal and death was obvious, that Leonitis sent away all but 300. That 300 fought to the death. I don’t kno why anyone is put off by the look of the Persians. Although great Artistic license is taken, I think Xerxes and the others looked awesome. Xerxes was portrayed as a “golden” GOD forgoodness sake. His voice alone was impressive. Again, although not historically or visually correct, it is a work of Art choosing the Spartans as the Heroes, thus… the cool dudes. Having said this, I believe we are all responsible for what we do and say… even Hollow-wood. They sit in interviews going on about wanting to change the worlds view or open eyes to whatever belief they are selling at the moment…If any good comes of a movie, that director, actor, etc is right there to say, “Thanks”- but godforbid something goes wrong. Then Hollywood heads for the hills and cries foul play, “You can’t hold us responsible.” My summary: We are all responsible for our actions and words and… even our own education. Didn’t yo Mama ever tell ya “It’s all make believe, hunny.”
As an American I always thought of Persia (now Iran) as having a rich cultural history that revolved around the importance of learning and just leadership. I’ve never attributed the current regime that is running the country as representative of the true culture of the people or those that came before. Also, I highly doubt that anyone who watched the movie in the appropriate age group honestly links the so called “persians” of 300 to the real persians in recorded history. I understand the outburst of protest over the movie, however. It’s like if someone made a movie and all the Americans were obese pizza eating slobs running around on motor bikes with guns shooting off in the air.
Colt48 has made some wonderful points, mainly, “I highly doubt that anyone who watched the movie in the appropriate age group honestly links the so called “persians” of 300 to the real persians in recorded history.” The final comment, I generally agree with, how ever, in this specific discussion, I’d have to disagree. Personally, and if I understand what my friends took away from the movie, I/We thought the Persians were(once again) awesome! Not historical, but “buff” mysterious warriors lead by this god-like giant of a being. I find it hard to copare the “obese pizza eating slobs running around on motor bikes with guns shooting off in the air” Americans against the skillful, menacing, advanced, warriors of Persia, that I saw in the movie. Perhaps I’m missing the disgraceful portrayal of the Persians that many of you are seeing. Historically inacuate…YES! Insulting…??? Accept for the orgy scene, I came away with a view of the Persian Warrior of this Movie as anything but insulting. Maybe I should watch it again.
I’m recently retired from teaching and this idea that this movie is going to alter kids view of the persian from noble to half naked savages is over the top. The “heroes”, the Spartans, if anyone was the “half naked barbarian” in this movie. Yes, we all are responsible for what we put out there… including the parents that allow their kids to watch stuff that they deem unsuitable. It’s a balancing act that I am sorry and sad to say is mostly out of our hands. All we have is our opinions and choices to walk out of these movies if they insult or demeen.
Throughout all of media history so many have been misrepresented. IE., “Vikings” are tall, dirty killers. “Christains” are fanatical dweebs. “Business Men” are out to strp on you and always have that pistol in their right drawer of their huge office desk. Hell, Even the paintings of the Renaissance show Jesus in 14 Cent. garb.
I have met absolutly no one who has had a revelation about Persians due to this Movie… save the Persians and P.C. posers that are taking it to heart. If anything has tainted the reputation of Iran in the American eye, it would most likely be the Iranians of today. Sorry people, despite all you say, Movies, stories, myths and legends are told by the victors and these victors having just defeated what they see as the enemy, are not going to sit back and say, “Now when we tell of our great victory over our enemy we must first study their culture and make sure we represent them as authentically as possible. Bill…erase the bones from the Persians’ noses. You know that will insult the perfect descendants of the Persians.” The USA has become one of the fairest & open minded countries out their(yes they have their faults). America even created a culture that was hell bent on picking on itself. There has been plenty of movies, by Americans that show the “other side” as the innocent. No where else in the world will you find a country trying so hard to exsist with these various cultures all in “One big house”. We, Americans are far from perfect, but we try and it is in America where the “underdog” has the right to have his/her say without fear of governmental oppression. In the end, if your going to watch an American movie, choice wisely… cause we are all allowed to, create, speak and even make totally unbalanced movies. Find the ones you like and stop whining.
To m.alan.
Well. I enjoyed reading your views on American democratic freedoms. But please be realistic, american dream, the big house and the sort of mixing of cultures, races, views and religions is a ticking bomb that is going to explode any second. You are not that ignorant as you say, you just pretend to be, because it is easier, instead of adressing the issues.
Don’t tell me that you don’t want Muslims out of your country. Well, answer it to yourself, dont need to tell me…
Everybody would be better if they went back to the countries they came from, including Americans showing the others how to do it by making their way first from Iraq and Afganistan.
And regarding the movie. Well, lets be honest, it has a long lasting effects on our children and teens. If this image of Persians will not be corrected at schools or by self-educating, it needs only …another Bush to lighten the fire, and your American dream children (by then soldiers) will be shooting Iranians like ducks from their helicopters. Every image stays in your brain and helps to creates the overall and detailed view of the world.
Lets be honest, your views are utopian, and the reality is completely diferent.
Sometimes it is just wise to use the political correctness, even in Hollywood, and I bet Miller (the author) wasn’t so ignorant as he was pretending to be when he was making the movie. We.ve seen bigger and long lasting effect plots in the history, than that of a Miller, if you have any idea what I am talking about…
Native Midwestern American born, and muslim. Proud of both and going nowhere. Your ignorance of both the varied and beautiful Islamic traditions and the relatively new, but just as vibrant American tradition that stems from opposition to much that you have posted here betrays you. Or maybe I should go back to my Dutch homeland of ancestry, God knows they have no blight to their name (LOL) (hope your not an angry Southerner hoping for the return to Antebellum as well)
Kath
WoW!!! After reading the 1st paragraph of your reply to my comments on 300, I made the choice to read no further. To judge me and to do so so ignorantly(without knowledge), was very telling. I never said the the American Dream was a big house, etc…. at least not as an idea I agree with. I am not so arrogant to believe the size of a house has anything to do with freedom or America. And, to blantantly say I secretly know down deep I want the Muslims out of America????????????? Where did this come from. You seem angry… to a point of stereotyping. My good friend right next door from me is Ravi. I can’t spell or say his whole name or last. Lol. We both spend much time speaking of the amazing place that America is. There are many “other races/religions” come here and I welcome all lovers of peace and defenders of the basic rights of Human freedom…especially, a freedom to practice what ever religion they hold dear. I actual laughed when you made that comment about me wanting all Muslims out of America. I’m a Art teacher and have met so many wonderful children from every walk of life and hate to see there governments at war. I don’t know what you think the typical American is, but you missed your take on me. I hope, if we can continue conversations, we can do so on a less judgemental and hate filled basis.
Just an middle aged Art teacher living in the low income end of a small town, in a house with less than 1200 square ft and knowing, it is the governments that want war, not the people, and a possible new friend,
m. alan johnson.
Oh…
Being an Art teacher, I have been in the fore front of education, teaching kids about culture. I am well aware of cultures such as the Minoians to the Sumarians, to the Resians and on. Persia… a facinating place. Amazing warriors. The reference to “The big house” was simple meant to suggest the fact that this country, for the most part…for the most part…(please don’t read on without acknowledging the exceptions I speak of… or allude to) has accepted so many imagrants into it’s borders and this new American have become everything from Bakers to bankers and from Laundriers to Lawyers and all places in between. I live in NO fairy tell that America is perfect. We have done some sickening things, but we learn. Our president is an African American for goodness sake! A nation of mostly white voting in a black president. (Please don’t misread this. I I am refering to the Nation choosing a Black leader, not a mostly white population. I threw this in to make a point that we do try and we do change and we certainly accept, as a whole…as a nation, as a nation with an ideal to try to reach…all people. It is not “pie in the sky” thinking. Our population is proof of our attemps.) Have we forgotten, that most of the Whites(what is refered to as white) are also from other countries or cultures? Germans, French, Jews, Russians…etc. Say what you want about your opinion of the country, but you have no clue who I am, who my friends are or what political, cultural or Socio-economical vies are.
I apologize for my misspelling of Persians.
u guys r retarded cuz u guys r talkin bout a movie thats fake but haz a real back ground iz for entertainmet kk faggz
i only have a h.m shit or else i would not even know a thing of the past i mean who cares i am not from Greece or Persian. dum h.m i hate u =) i fell better telling u all my feeling
wow see wat i wrote a line of i lol
fucking website =0
oo dude matkjohnson u write alote dude
You guys need to relax. I’m all about education, but this is MEANT for entertainment.
Blame the EDUCATION system for not doing their job and better informing our youth. It shouldn’t be Hollywood’s priority and duty to educate, however when it does, it’s always welcomed and awesome. If it was historically accurate, it would have stripped the artist’s original idea of his story. The movie is about HIS INTERPRETATION of it, not THE actual event. There’s A DIFFERENCE PEOPLE. THERE’S A MONSTER WITH BLADES FOR ARMS FOR CHRIST SAKES!! Anyone who went there thinking that they were going to get a cheat sheet through a history book has a mental problem. Take it for what it is, and realize it’s meant to be fantastical and just plain cool. (And I’m not Christian btw, I’m agnostic)
Again.. if you think it is Hollywood’s job to teach the youth, that’s like expecting a dog to give birth to a cat. That’s like blaming video games why your kid has problem when many times it’s just… a SCAPEGOAT.
Wow just read Kath’s post… One thing I’ve learned is… to not ASSUME how other people live… despite the fact that you may feel sure of yourself, you need to realize, a person lives a damn life. They experience 365 DAYS a year, people LEARN every day, and for you to try to wrap someone up in a nutshell, on a blog!! Wow.. What’s also sad is, you seem no different than the ignorant portion of Americans who believe all Muslims are terrorists in the Middle East and Allah’s objective is to take down Christians. Haven’t people learned from the power of just being better than your enemies? Don’t people remember what Mahatmi Ghandi and Martin Luther King accomplished? Don’t people realize that stooping down levels, and fighting fire with fire only makes things worse!?
Basically, people NEED to STOP undermining people. The parents who shield their children from everything become unprepared and naive, and many times children don’t like it because things AREN’T as bad as they seem. You guys are FALLING for what MEDIA constantly barrages the public. That we MUST be scared.. of this… of THAT. I understand that it in no way portrays the Persians accurately, but to honestly think that people came there to learn is ABSOLUTELY ridiculous. One thing that’s stressed in art, is, if you’re going to make a stroke, make it confidently. If not, it may look like a mistake and unintentional. What Miller did was the best case scenario. The story itself is absolutely imagined, and the way he approached it was in the most stylized fashion possible(And TRUE to the comic). All the compositions are altered in an unrealistic fashion. The graphic elements make it resemble a comic without having it thrown in your face like Sin City. The characters are absolutely pushed to the max. This does VERY LITTLE to replicate real life, because it ISN’T real life. You should THANK Miller for making it his duty to push the limits of imagination on screen, so the viewer would get a better sense that, their life would never be like that, and therefore, it never was like that. The movie is bigger than life. If this movie was approached like Ten Commandments, then I think you could confidently say that this could be mistaken for actual historical facts. But this movie? Absolutely ridiculous. Give humanity some more credit and realize we aren’t dumb as rocks as everyone thinks. I believe that is humanity’s problem, are tendency to undermine everyone else. Please. Stop.
Vagina BOOB
I don’t know. I think the persians in 300 looked WAY cooler then those dorky pics you put up on your page. Be happy they didn’t make the immortals look like wimpy fags in robes. They looked pretty bad ass to me in the movie. loosen up and realize we live in the 21st century we can’t even comprehend what the culture was like back then. And why would you be proud that the persians enacted the rest of the world as slaves and them the conquerors??? I don’t know. I don’t feel any persian nostalgia here.
@ Tara: you are the perfect example of how a shitty movie like 300 can have an influence of idiots like yourself:
“And why would you be proud that the persians enacted the rest of the world as slaves and them the conquerors???”
You assume that Persians enslaved the conquered just like the movie 300 claimed.
Here’s your proof people. Tara is the outcome of moronic Hollywood movies.
Tara, just to educate you and to help you never to make such a fool out of yourself again: The Persians did tolerate slavery, unlike the Greeks. In fact, it is often said that the majority of enslaved greeks (slaves and hellots) would have appreciated Persian rule since that would make them free men.
Now go grab a history book and try to prevent such bullshit comments from being written down, will ya?
correction:
to have an influence ON idiots like yourself*
did NOT tolerate*
my bad
Excelent reply to tara and other fools.. dear shahin. I admire you. Thank you for your strong replies to these fools . We persians are fighting fools.. for long long time. Im proud of you.
300 is complete fiction. A vaguely similar event occurred long ago, but similarities end there. To argue over its depiction of ancient cultures is silly. The only intention of the movie is entertainment. If you aren’t entertained, then don’t watch the movie.
Movies have always portrayed misleading facts. Decades ago in western movies indians were played by white men. Today times have changed movie makers know if they want people to see their movies they have to use realism. We must first understand if we are going to go see a movie depicting a particular race that we might belong to; be prepared to be offended by misleading and exaggerated facts. It is not fully true; it is only entertainment.
guys seriuosly you are all idiots and fools 300 was just a movie it doesn’t matter wether iranians are nice or savage colored,tanned,or white what the costumes are like what holly wod did it doesn’t matter just enjoy the movie
Dear mister or lady aww dugger…. dont you mind if i portrait or draw your sister and mother like a whore in my paintings? Or show them as slaves and my whores in my movie? ITS JUST A MOVIE .. NOT?!
This is not only a movie. This is not to be understood as an historical movie at all and should have been presented as a work of fantasy. And it is, being made from a comic that is not more storic than the arthurian legend if you want to see it as rapresentative of the early middle age or the lore of hercules as a document of ancient greek customs. The original author, Frank Miller, made a work speaking of heroism and inflexibility against a stereotyped debauched tyrant. That’s all, the choice of the iconical battle of Marathon is not much more than an excuse.
You’re pessimist and make me worry about the kids’ smartness.
Will they really believe a spartan, a member of one of the most trained and battle-ready armies of the ancient world, would go to battle nearly naked, exposing vital organs. We’re not speaking about WWI’s Italian Black Shirts, Apocalypse Now ‘s suicide-loving marines or viking Berserkers,:although the author made Leonidas behave nearly like one of them: they were not a handful of elite alienated troopers on the brink of madness, they were the bravest men in an institutional army well integrated in an authoritarian society. Even the quote “We will make the sun fade by firing arrows/At least we will fight in shade” that was from Herodotus was a scenic, movie-like exaggeration…back in Herodotus’ time when there weren’t even cinemas.
And the persians? A tolkienian goblin-like horde complete with chimaeras, rhinoceroses in battle armour and demonic samurais, led by a sissy?
Not believable at all, unless you’re watching a very emphatic fantasy, something deliberately overdone, like japanese anime (do you remember the futuristic “Alexander the Great” with Aristotle wearing flashy make-up and Pithagoreans flying and doing acrobatics? I’ve not heard anyone complain about it) or lengthy power metal (I’ve heard it was also used in 300, right. It fits.). All these things have their own charm, but they are made for aesthetic reasons, not to be realistic. Saying “300” ruins the image of the Achemenid Empire is like saying “Jesus Christ Superstar” is an inaccurate transposition of the Gospels. It’s stylized, on the contrary: probably someone even will be curious to learn how the whole thing REALLY looked like after seeing it.
E.C “storic”: I meant “historical”
@m. alan (June 2010) Actually Romans DID strive to picture enemies as accurately and as honestly as they could, nearly. They said they were wicked but they also often pointed they were honorable, hard, strong enemies. Why? To have even more glory! The reasoning behind that was “if our enemies were great and civilizated, how much valuable we are, we that have defeated them!” So it’s a matter of views: accurate or semi-accurate depitcion can ALSO be propaganda.
Last: I’ve just discovered that “Marathon” means “fennel” in greek. In italian, the word for “fennel”, “finocchio” also is a mildly insulting word meaning “effeminate gay”. What a coincidence given the way BOTH, BOTH oily, weird sides at Marathon are described in 300!
People!!
Of course 300 is disrespectfull is not based on the real battle at Thermopylae is baased on a bad graphic-novel by henry miller, and yes the persians look odd and ridiculized but hey is the big time overwhelming western lie called hollywood we’re talking about did you know for example that the heroic leonidas was 60 years old at the battle.
c
It’s ridiculous that you peoploe are talking about taking muslims out of america. Let it be said I’m not a muslim but it is merely stupid, irrational and boldly follish why the heck would you push the muslims out of america!!
When an army lead by ppeople as foul as many of you fought them off their country.
Did you know that the wheel yes the one in car you drive was invented thousands of year ago by the peopple of Iran and Iraq so get your head out of yoour asses and give a think.
I am going to enslave all of you because I’m wayy cooler than all of you put together motherfucker. I’m a proud cock-sucking atheist animal-fucker and both Europe and Persia falls to Khaos. I gaurantee it, doubt me? call me at 1-717-875-6797 or send me nude pics or both hahah.
I, Alex Zimmersow Krieger, know all Persians are sand-niggers and all greeks are faggots. If you disagree with me, bring it on, CALL ME at 717-725-9444 or mail me at 691 West Ridge Road, Elizabethtown, PA 17022.
All you Arabs are the same, you are the monsters portrayed in 300 MOOO. disagree with me, write me at 691 West Ridge Road, Elizabethtown, PA 17022 or leave a message for me at 717-725-9444 Allah cock-suckers.
Krieger: your mommy seems to have given you too little attention.
Why don’t you crawl back into her uterus where you belong, you waste of human life. And no need to write down someone else’s address. We all know you’re too much chickenshit.
That was a good one shahin. Haha. ;))
Alex: your real name is Richard Talyns, and I already know where you live. One of these days I’m gonna beat you to near-death, so… don’t go into dark alleys 😉
Actually, Persians are closer in DNA to Europeans than to Arabs.
Bring it on, find me at the above address or call me at the above number Shahin or call me at 717-875-6797. I’ll be in Lancaster, on July 21, 2012, to observe a ritual where I will re-enact burning out the fires of Zoroaster, TRY and stop me, yout stupid dumb Sand Niggers.
The real Aryans are the Indo-Iranian peoples. As it is mentions in the Vedas, Puranas, Gathas, and Avestas. Hitler was so inspired by them that he wanted to be an Aryan, which he was obviously not, as he was the descendant of barbarianistic Vikings of Northern Europe.
Free america… made mostly by fool people like you. People like you die so fast and easy.. after that nobody even thinks or remembers your name. Well… god did create you for some reason.
Krieger and Andrae, you stupid racist hicks, shut your pathetic traps. go back to your backwoods town, read on the world as it actually is, and grow up. You give Americans a bad reputation, its IGNORANT people like you and Andrea that make the world frown down on USA>
All you Arabs will fucking bleed out, Shahin Bin Laden, for causing 9-11. Rest assured, in my house, i have dungeons for savages like you, me and my sister-in-law ALanna Supersow have a dungeon for half-men like you and Khosrau Hussein. hahahahah! don’t believe me? text me or swing by my Palace and find out tee hee hee hee.
I want to have everyone who disagrees with me to sck muh dick. Call me hoe at 1-717-875-6797 to arrange a Fuckfest, ya dig.
Thanks so much for the great article. This was exactly
the thing I needed today 😀
,I really had wanted some original images(an more as possible to be original) of Persian army 480 B.C for painting. Thank for sup,,,,,
Yeah; Hollywood has perverted Greek and Iranian History, it is disgusting – not to mention what they have done with the Romans as well…
Why do you guys always want to say someone is white looking keep that crap in Europe Persian were alittle tan never white so stop keep ur white stuff in Europe ok
Hitler’s Chosen Race will smite you.
I just cannot believe that this ENTIRE amount of energy is being devoted to a silly movie. I worked for the sons of the past general to the Shah of Iran. Persians, for those of you who wouldn’t have a clue. THEY were not offended by the movie. IF you were paying attention to the movie, the credits and the aftermath, you would have realized that the movie was lightly based upon fact. So silly to be so thin skinned as to be offended. I hear so many jokes directed towards the Russians, and being Russian and Swedish I still do not find them offensive. Why would I? The assumptions made about Swedes is not entirely accurate but again, why would that offend me? Now why would a silly movie offend anyone? Unless of course you are so insecure in yourself that you would be so inclined to waste time crying about how offended you are and then attacking other people with your insane need to believe all Americans are ignorant. (and being American, I more so find THAT particular statement from you to be silly) Hollywood is a great source of amusement, thats all.
You truly never saw sons of shah even closely. Lier. Let me make a movie about you and show you as the biggest whore in world. Then lets see if youre offended or not. Hollywood… is showing!….. amd showing… is telling about something or somebody. This shit jewish entertaining hollywood is mentioning something that made a huge of people offended even non iranian.
I am from Punjab , India & couldn’t help but wonder that the garment which covers the waist $ legs-a flowing long skirt type – is what is actually worn by punjabis traditionally even today in country side. My uncles, grand dad wore it. In punjabi we call it – chaddar or a sheet.
Cultures & people aren’t that far apart as they are made out to be…
It’s called a shalvar kameez, and it has been worn for thousands of years by Ancient Persians, Central Asians, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Middle East, and even by old people in Punjab and Kashmir. Though it is usually worn by women in Punjab now.
I think the Taksali Sikh dress, the Chola, is similar to the Ancient Persian dress, except they are plain.
hi
Its like you learn my mind! You seem to grasp so much approximately this, like you wrote the e-book in it or something.
I feel that you can do with some p.c. to power the message house a bit, however instead of that, that is
excellent blog. A fantastic read. I will certainly be back.
Some very interesting comments from everyone. And some good points . If a movie (such as 300) has interested me after I go and see it I will get on the Internet or buy a book and read about the facts behind the film. That way I am entertained by the Hollywood drama but also In Full possession of the factual history! I dont think we should take Hollywood to heart… I mean batman doesn’t exist and they still make movies about him. I think it’s a great movie with some very sexy men! Ha ha – by a red bloodied but educated English female x
Listen you nazi fuck your whe race are immigrants to a land that does not belong to you , you thought of that bitch ass, Fukin retard
That’s because the movie depicted the Persians in a negative way and could offend the people of Iran and Afghanistan. The Persians contributed many things to the Ancient world such as First decree of human rights, religious freedom by rebuilding the Temple of Suleiman(Solomon), first banking system in the world, polo, first postal system in the world, taxes for free services, the refrigerator (yakhchal), and the most important, Ice Cream.
i am american, apple pie and football through and through. i am sad at how wussy are nation has become. if we offend some Iranians on accident WHO CARES. Its not are job to kiss the worlds butt. its their fault if they get offended just like its my fault if i get offended if people call me fat even if i am not. and to all you people linking Christianity with Islam, when was the last time you heard of someone blowing up a city block in the name of Jesus. i mean come on the phrase Allah ackbar has become synonymous with terrorism. i am not saying all Muslims are terrorists or all terrorists are Muslims but there does seem to be a connection. i am a christian and i do not see my self as superior to Muslims i think Paul said it best “for i am the chiefest of sinners and all my good works are as a dung heap before the lord” it is my hope that everyone here will come to see the lord someday and i can see you all in heaven. john 3:16 for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever trusts in him shall not perish but have eternal life. we will not live forever on earth but we will have eternal life in heaven.
Oklahoma bombing ring a bell? “when was the last time you heard of someone blowing up a city block in the name of Jesus.”
Hmmm yes
I feel sorry for the populations of wolves that we are desparately trying to reincorporate into the wild here in the US. The depiction of wolves as human eating savage beasts of prehistoric proportions (but waists like Barbie) can do nothing but breed hatred and fear toward them and halt the progress of their restoration and kill their chances of survival.
I say this with tongue in cheek, but the narrowness in vision on all sides seems to be filled with ignorance and hatred, none of which I believe this movie caused, or accurate depiction would have staved off. I love my religion, which happens to be Islam. I am loyal to my nation, which happens to be the US, and I happen to be a literate person who enjoys graphic novels, like my oldest son. As a democratic Islamist in the Ibadi tradition (as no doubt may of you would love to throw sectarian issues around as well), I find that war clouds historical accuracy, as does opulence. Moderation people, is the answer, no matter what your persuasion, political, religious, or otherwise.
THE FACT: USA stolen its called “motherland” from poor American Natives–killed millions of em–harborded inocent African Natives(hunted em lyk animals) to build up this so called “glorious nation!”–was the greatest black killer in history of man kind–strecthed its borders from south by killin Latin American Natives–stole their lands too–over a million Km square!!–had invented the Terrorism–killed 3 presidents of its own by this cowardly tactic–over half dozen of human rights activists(yo should’ve knowm some of em)–now usin its own invention (terrorism) as an excuse to suck the money out of the 3rd world people by sellin its weapons/army–act lyk the leader of the world but we didn’t see nobody give vote for that!(Dictator of the whole world)!!!
Personally i’m just glad those 2 other side of US is sorrounded by water!, i’m glad for humanity!!!
sooooooo…………………
Listen to me yo punk ass red neck peaces of trailer trash, when your fuckin ancestors were wearin short skirts and dressed in leather lyk sissy fags; we were rulers of the world!
why yo mothafuckaz talkin out of your asses now?,hehehe, its all hitler’s fault; if that son of bitch had attacked US instead of Russia, yo’d be suckin some Aryan dicks right now and infact speakin German instead this Goddamn honkey laguage of yours which i hate it but still gotta use it just in case of gettin on with your bitches !! lol
AND by the way
Once i heard someone on YOUR history channel said quote “If there’s anything the Persian descendants should be proud of anytime, that’s they built all of their ancient palaces and all of their glory by paying gold coins AND not using MAN AS SLAVES; in fact those(Persepolis/Pasargad/Susa/…) are the only magnificent ancient structures in the world that are pure from the word’SLAVERY’ ”
Choke on this pride and live on your shameful disgusting glory !!! LMAO
Hahahha damn i love your hard reply to that fool. I am satisfied aryan. Thumps up!! 👍👍👍
Well… ive read all comments. And…. we persians better make our own movie about greeks and spartans and hollywood.let them pray i dont get the producer or directory position because i will show them as my view to entertain the world. Its just a movie right?! … the battle between east and west… still continues.
Another comment … their was no country or state named as greece or macedonia… all these where some poor villagers. Even if that enormous army of xerxes spitted on those spartan villagers mercenaries they would be crushed to death by its weight…. whos entertained and belive such movies better put that hollywood stick on his mothers pussy so the world popilation would not suffer further anymore from retard fools. You guys keep saying it is just a movie… ok.. let also make a movie about a movie about your .other and il show her as the biggest whore in the world.. its just a movie right!! You wouldnt get offended is just a movie and is for entertaining right!?.. hollywood is pointing and mentioning on purpose toward a specific civilization and population… specialy on PURPOSE! That made these days a large buge populations feels offended even non iranians. ! Propaganda is a weapon. Such movies telling aNd showing lies is provoking and insulting. Why russia or europa or china dont make such foolish movies…. fuck your describing and deffending and excuses about this and all other samelike offending hollywood movies that it is entertaining. Let we make some movies about jews greeks and americans Lets see if it is entertaining or not.
I am sorry I read some of the comments. It deeply saddened me that people are not interested in knowledge and are stuck in their emotionally charged dreams.
Thank you for the information.
Frankly 300 is an embarrassment to all but those into film innovation.
Trash article if you would even call it that.
Truly moronic article. Movies aren’t history lessons.
The ‘pictures’ of the ‘real’ Xerxes are an artists rendition. Not exactly the most accurate of sources either.
Researched the movie 300….Rule out Christianity and Islam, neither existed, What they wear to battle is not truly representative etc etc… Sparta was in fact a brutal slave owning society, the helots were treated abominably ..but so were spartan boy children. Xerxes may not have literally been a giant of a man ..but he was figuratively.
The real moral of the story is last stands and nobility in battle…people willing to sacrifice themselves for others or an ideal. The hot gates being one such example…we also have the Persian gates….Agincourt….Alamo…etc.
Simply put the moral is…
Xerxes (who once had the waters of the sea whipped for not obeying his commands..see where I’m going here), wanted to expand his territory to rule and dominate Greece. The Greek city states, who often fought each other, joined together and said not a chance. We want freedom to govern ourselves as we see fit, we will not be a conquered vasal of Persia. They stood (knowing they were doomed) and fought an overwhelming enemy force with immense courage and bravery, for what they believed in..to remain free. Something Xerxes just couldn’t get his head around.
The Persian culture may have been more tolerant controlling their conquered territories with a light hand, but it did not give them the right to invade other countries to impose their ways.
Oh and by the way Persia only included Iran…its other territories covered Israel, Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and Turkey to name but a few.