Facts about the 300 Spartans

• In 1962, Geoffrey Unsworth directed a movie, “The 300 Spartans” about the battle. He filmed it on location at Thermopylae. Because it was a typical Hollywood sword-and-sand epic, it didn’t really give a sense of the heroic ideals of the battle and its importance.
• The epic movie “300” is far removed from the Unsworth movie. It’s not a conventional account of the battle. It’s based on Frank Miller’s graphic novel. Director Zack Snyder says he made a conscious effort not to render reality. He made the movie on one physical set, using blue screen, on which he created the special effects. He told the British magazine Empire, “I tried to show that together the Spartans were like a machine, but that individually they had awesome athleticism. I wanted to make the blood not even real, to transcend that, so the violence itself becomes something else. It was fun to do because I like violence too much. But it makes for a good movie.”
• You can buy Frank Miller’s original 1998 graphic novel and “300 The Art of the Film” about the making of the movie. This is a particularly valuable companion piece because it shows you the creation of the actors, their roles, and the battle’s physical setting, in more than 300 illustrations: Both volumes are $30 each and are available at Borders and Barnes & Noble.
• The battle was the centerpiece of the 1998 best-selling novel “Gates of Fire” by Steven Pressfield. Pressfield, a historian who likes research, brings the times and the battle to life. The Spartans’ stand is described as a suicide mission to hold the pass against the invading hordes of the Persian army. Day after bloody day the Spartans withstood the terrible onslaught, buying time for the Greeks to rally their forces. Pressman says the battle “would be remembered for the greatest military stand in history, one that would not end until the rocks were awash with blood.”
• An interesting account of the battle can be found in “The Histories” by Herodotus, who was alive at the time of Thermopylae. It is available at Borders and Barnes & Noble in a fresh, evocative translation by David Grene, The University of Chicago Press. The book’s front cover features the painting “Leonides at Thermopylae” by Jacques Louis David.
• The painting is one of the major attractions at the Louvre in Paris.