Is the movie 300 based on a true story?

Answer 1

Yes 300 is the retelling of the brave Spartan warriors who fought against Persia, now in modern days called Iran.

300 is VERY fact filled, right down to individual words spoken. These were really said:

"They look thirsty!" - Spartan

"Then Let's give them something to drink!" - Leonidas

"Immortals? We'll put their name to the test!" - Leonidas

"Only Spartan Women produce real men" - Gorgo

"We will fight in the shade" - Dieneces

"Tonight we dine in Hell" - Leonidas

Persian - "Spartans! Hand over your arms!"

Leonidas - "Come and get Them"

Ephialtes however was not deformed, nor ex-Spartan. He lived in Malis, a town in the hills south of Thermopylae. The number of Persians is actually underrated in the film!! Herodotus records there being 5,283,220 Persians (but that is probably a lie!) to 300's 2,000,000!!

In the film they actually put a piece of unhistorical clothing on the Spartans! They wore no sandals, from childhood they walked over sharp rocks and ashes to harden their soles. Other than that and a missing cuirass, their armor is fairly accurate.

Also, the Immortals were not souless beasts, just 10,000 crack troops recruited by Xerxes to be his bodyguard. They were not ninjaesque; they looked very much like the emissaries at the beginning of the movie.

Of Course 300 is a retelling of Thermopylae by the Spartans (Delios prior to the battle of Platea). So all that is shown in 300 is what the Spartans of course could have recounted it as! Deformed old creatures, huge half naked almost indestructable warriors. It's all relative!

However, a large number of warriors were left out of the movie. Alongside the 300 Spartans were most notably 700 Thespians and the 'Noble Band' of 300 Theban homosexuals who both stayed to the bitter end even though Leonidas had ordered the 6000 odd other Greeks to leave alongwith the Thespians the night before their annihilation.

The honours that people give always

Pass to those use-besotted gentleman

Whose numbskull courage is a kind of fear,

A fear of thought and of the oafish mothers

('Or with your shield or on it') in their rear.

Spartans cannot retreat. Why then, their praise

For going forward should be less than others.

But we, actors and critics of one play,

Of sober witted judgement, who could see

So many roads, and chose the Spartan way,

What has the popular report to say

Of us, the Thespians at Thermopylae?

-Norman Cameron

Answer 2

no they are not accurate the movie is fictional The movie is not entirely fictional. Marcus Aurelius, Commodus, and Lucilla were real people. Gladiator is a semi-remake of the 1964 movie The Fall of the Roman Empire. Both movies are accurate in some ways and less accurate in others. Both are good entertainment, but Gladiator is generally more accurate. In Gladiator, Marcus Aurelius is murdered by Commodus. The Fall of the Roman Empire is slightly more accurate in this regard, with Marcus Aurelius poisoned, but Commodus had nothing to do with it. [The real Marcus Aurelius probably died of plague.] At the end of both movies, Commodus dies fighting in the arena. The real Commodus did enjoy fighting as a gladiator, but he did not die in that way by contemporary account. Conspirators got him drunk until he fell asleep, and they had him strangled by a wrestler. And his sister Lucilla is left alive at the end of both movies, but in actuality she died earlier; executed by Commodus for plotting against him. The real story would sell fewer tickets if Hollywood did not make some slight changes.

Answer 3

Not completely, but it many ways it was very accurate. I saw the movie many years ago, and it was apparent that the producers strived for an accurate telling of this event. Some things had to be changed. For instance, sculpture and other art of that time indicates that Greek soldiers fought naked except for their armor. This is one historical accuaracy that would not be acceptable for movie audiences in 1962, or in 2007 for that matter.

Answer 4

There are several inaccuracies in Spartacus.

The series shows many gladiators being killed in the arena. Historically, most gladiators were not killed in the arena due to the high cost in purchasing and training them.

Oneomaeus was a Gaul, this is not depicted in the show.

Spartacus commanded over 50,000 slaves in battle. The show makes it look like his numbers were in the hundreds, not thousands.

Answer 5

Yes, there really was a man named William Wallace and he led a rebellion against the English.