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Real Sparta VS Movie 300

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Real Sparta VS Movie 300
Joshua Paul
Mr. Zlotin
Global History And Geography I
14 January 2014

Real Sparta Vs. 300 Sparta
“THIS IS SPARTA”, a famous quote from the Hollywood movie 300 (2006), is this movie by Zack Snyder true to what really happen? Sparta was a city-state in south west of Ancient Greece with a strict set of eugenics. Sparta was one of the two biggest and strongest city-states and is considered to have the strongest Army of its time. Persia was the super power of its time, it had expanding borders due to conquering and Persia had it eyes on Greece. After first failing to conquer Greece ten years earlier, Persia had returned to finish the job. The Battle of Thermopylae is the story of Sparta and its allies defending against the much bigger Persian Army and it is one of the most famous ‘last stand’ stories of all time. The movie depiction of Sparta and the Battle of Thermopylae is filled with untruths but actual Sparta was different in how the government was run, in the details, and in who actually fought against the Persians. The movie 300 was different to real life Sparta in the fact of how the government was run. In the movie the Spartans are ruled in a monarchy ruled by the one King Leonidas. Although in real life the Spartan government was a military oligarchy with a mix of monarchy and democracy. In real Sparta there were two hereditary kings with equal power. The whole role of the King was to lead in battle and to be the religious leaders. The second part of the political system was the Gerusia, which could be compared to modern day Supreme Court. The Gerusia advised the assembly, enforced punishment and could veto laws. These council members had to be above the age of 60 and included the two Kings. The main part of the Spartan government was the Ephors, which were annually elected officials who could not run for reelection. These officials were responsible for foreign policy, control over the king and law making. The Ephors was also responsible for peace


Cited: Anderson, Mike. "Mike Anderson 's Ancient History Blog." : The Unique Spartan Political System. N.p., 11 May 2009. Web. 10 Jan. 2014. "Battle of Thermopylae." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 01 Nov. 2014. Web. 11 Jan. 2014. "Sparta." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 31 Dec. 2013. Web. 12 Jan. 2014. "Herodotus, The Histories A. D. Godley, Ed." Herodotus, The Histories,Book 8, Chapter 25, Section 0. Trans. A. D. Godley. Annenberg CPB, n.d. Web. 13 Jan. 2014.
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