Why did Sparta only send 300 soldiers against the Persian army

Zack Snyder 300 is based on the remarkable true story of the historic Battle of Thermopylae. 300 Transformed Gerard Butler’s Hollywood career and may be the pinnacle of his extensive filmography. 300 was released in the United States on March 9, 2007, and became the tenth-highest-grossing film of that year, Earning $456 million worldwide against a production budget of $60 million. The epic action film was only Zack Snyder’s second feature directorial effort after his breakout 2004 horror film Dawn of the Dead. 300 Led Snyder to take on other blockbusters such as Guard (2009), Man of Steel (2013), and Justice League (2017).

The impressive box office performance of 300 Inspired a sequel in 2014Although Snyder did not direct 300: Rise of an Empire. A 300 A prequel series was recently reported to be in the works at Warner Bros., with Snyder rumored to be attached. Although Butler never reprized his role as King Leonidas due to the ending of 300His performance left an indelible impact on the trajectory of his career in action movies. After leading the cast of 300Butler would go on to star in many action movies, such as Law abiding citizen (2009), Olympus has fallen (2013), Gods of Egypt (2016), and The thieves (2018).

The Carneia festival only allowed King Leonidas to send 300 Spartan soldiers

Spartans fear that they will anger the gods by sending their full military force during the festival

As depicted in the movie 300The Persian army as ordered by Xerxes diplomatically asked the city-state of Sparta of ancient Greece to offer part of their land as a sign of respect to the Persian king. As the story goes, King Leonidas took the request as an insult, leaving no choice but to lead his battle-bred Spartans into war.which occurred in the late summer of 480 BC. While Leonidas had an army of approximately 7100 soldiers, which still paled in comparison to the hundreds of thousands of warriors in Xerxes’ army, he was forced to attempt to hold off the Persian invasion with a group of 300 hoplites due to The Carneia Festival of Sparta.

The Karneya festival prohibited military activity, making The actions of Leonidas and the 300 Spartan warriors unlawful in the eyes of their own culture. The festival was the reason why the Spartans were late in attendance at the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC, a historic battle during the first Persian invasion of Ancient Greece. The Olympic Games were also held at the time of the Battle of Thermopylae, meaning it would also have been sacrilegious if the entire army of Sparta broke the Olympic Truce and engaged in the war. The Spartans believed that fighting during the Carneia festival would anger the gods, so Leonidas and his men were forced to fend for themselves (through history).

How many soldiers were in the Persian army

A conservative estimate is about 200,000 soldiers

Xerxes and his Persian army numbered in the hundreds of thousands, with some estimates estimating that the full strength of his illustrious army of “immortals” was in the millions. According to Reed College, “Herodotus says that Xerxes had 2.5 million troops and as many again of camp followers, but this figure is widely acknowledged to be fantastic. A more realistic estimate is made by omitting a zero: perhaps 200,000, not all of whom had arrived at Thermopylae when Xerxes decided he had waited long enough..” Other ancient accounts claim that Xerxes’ army was as large as 800,000 soldiers But modern scientific estimates range from 120,000 to 300,000.

Interestingly, the fact that Leonidas and his 300 troops fought Xerxes at the Battle of Thermopylae meant that they would all have defied Spartan law, while It was also against Spartan law to retreat from battle. The impossible conundrum left Lendias with no choice but to do as much as possible in the face of overwhelming odds, considering that the circumstances around him seemed doomed. Despite the valiant effort that would be remembered for centuries, Leonidas’ defeat at Thermopylae paved a clear passage to advance into southern Greece and expand his empire even further (via Britannica).

How the 300 Spartan soldiers hold off the Persian army

The Spartans used a highly effective defensive maneuver

The 300 Spartans used effective defensive methods against the powerful attack of the Persian army. One of the methods was the Greek phalanx, a defensive maneuver in which Spartan soldiers would overlap their shields and use their spears to create a mostly impenetrable barrier against the shorter swords and smaller shields of the Persians. Xerxes first sent a group of 5000 soldiers known as the Medes, all of whom were defeated with some Spartan casualties, before sending 10,000 “immortals” who met a similar fate. The Spartans also pretended to retreat to gain an advantage over the advancing Persian army. Some of these clever military tactics and more can be seen in Snyder’s 300.

Source: History, Reed College, Britannica