Comments on: Frank Miller’s 300

By: uroskin

uroskin — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 04:13:45 +0000

The relationship between “300″ and history is about the same as that between creationism and reality.
http://www.archaeology.org/online/reviews/300.html

By: a517dogg

a517dogg — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 15:39:07 +0000

Apologies – I misread your post (it was 3am my time) interpreting your view of Sparta defending freedom as Sparta as a free society. Nevertheless, I doubt the 300 Spartans saw themselves as defending “freedom.” Defending Sparta, yes; defending Greece, probably; but defending freedom, only by historical accident.

300 was definitely an excellent movie – I was a little confused by the monsters, etc., until the end which revealed the format of the narrative.

By: Luke

Luke — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 07:34:23 +0000

Well, a517dogg, there are two things about your comment which aren’t quite true.

Firstly, I NEVER say in my post that Sparta was a libertarian state or a libertarian example. It most certainly was not. What I said was that the film itself was inspiring in a libertarian sense, because of its message that freedom and justice are worth fighting for.

Secondly, the Spartan rite you speak of, “kill a random (male) helot” is called the Crypteia or secret ritual. Your description is ONE VIEW of the ritual. Another view is that the ritual involved stealing food, not killing random slaves. Another version is that the Crypteia focused on “Helots who were considered to be troublesome to the state, or were found to be wandering the countryside with no good reason” rather than choosing the Helots at random.

Yes, Sparta was mean and horrible to its Helots. There were many atrocities committed against them. However, I stand by my comment that, especially compared to the treatment that Xerxes promised, the Helots “weren’t so badly treated and could buy their freedom”.

Wikipedia: “Having paid their tribute, the Helots could often live quite well … a certain amount of wealth was achievable: in 223 BCE, 6000 Helots purchased their freedom for 500 Drachma each, a considerable sum at the time.”

“The emancipation of Helots was “common” (Ï€Î¿Î»Î»Î¬ÎºÎ¹Ï‚ / pollÃ¡kis) …”

“During the Theban invasion of Laconia … the authorities agreed to emancipate all the Helots who volunteered … 6,000 heeded the call”

By: Phil

Phil — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 07:29:27 +0000

“This Spartan statement of intent is interesting because at first glance it is Sparta which is gripped by mysticism and tyranny… Spartan society, then, is no utopia, but its shortfalls do not make its achievements and freedoms any less worthy of defence by free men”

Adrian, you’re misrepresenting Luke’s words by making that claim. Besides, the merit or otherwise of Sparta as a state isn’t relevant to the merit of 300 as a movie, or the virtues of the original three hundred men.

By: a517dogg

a517dogg — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 07:04:24 +0000

“On the other hand, Greek slaves werenâ€™t so badly treated and could buy their freedom.”

A young Spartan man’s rite of passage was to go out alone, unarmed, and kill a random (male) helot by strangling him.

Individuals existed to serve the state. How you spin Sparta into a Libertarian state is beyond me.

By: ExKiwiForces

ExKiwiForces — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 12:52:01 +0000

The frist movie called The 300 Spartans was alot better than this one. The was a modern battle at Thermopylae in 1941 where the 2NZEF and AIF manage to stop the Germans panzers from attacking Athens for a while

By: MikeE

MikeE — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 01:46:36 +0000

That was what I was hinting at with this post:

http://mikeenz.blogspot.com/2007/03/movie-300-frank-miller-mainstreaming.html

It appears that Frank Millar is either a Libertarian or an Anarchist according to a quick googling..