The Conflict Between The Greeks And Persia

In the historical era of this film, the Persians began to expand west towards Greece (“Making Europe” 80). Once the Persians had reached the Greeks, a series of conflicts between the two had arisen (“Making Europe” 80). It is told in Making Europe, “The first conflict between the Greeks and Persia began… when the Ionian Greek cities…revolted against the Persian King Darius” (80). After this, Darius decided to build up an army to attack the mainland Greeks (“Making Europe” 80). This attack on Greece, known as the Battle of Marathon, was the first Persian invasion of Greece (“Making Europe” 81). Without any help from the Spartans, the Athenians had defeated the Persians with minimal Athenian casualties, as mentioned in Making Europe, “The final toll was 6,400 Persian dead to 192 Athenians.” (81). This film is based in the Greece 480 B.C.E., after the death of King Darius, with King Xerxes as the new ruler of Persia (“Making Europe” 81). As Xerxes prepared forces for a second invasion of Greece, the Greek cities discussed the war ahead, as mentioned in Making Europe, “Greek cities met at Corinth to plan their defense” (81). For this war, it says in Making Europe, “A force of 7,000 Greeks led by 300 Spartans under King Leonidas was sent to delay the Persian advance” (82). In this second invasion, the Spartans hold off the Persians until they are eventually surrounded and killed, and as the Persians continue to invade Athens, they are eventually defeated by the Athenian Navy.
The 300 Spartans opens with Xerxes army marching into Greece, and the Persian discovery of Agathon the Spartan spy. While Xerxes’ army is marching, the representatives of Greek cities have all met at Corinth to discuss their plans for defense against the Persian...

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...the use of Spartan war tactics. An example of this is when the Spartans are faced with the challenge of dealing with Xerxes cavalry. When the cavalry approaches the front line, all of the Spartans dropped to the ground, letting the cavalry hop over them, then they arose from the ground, trapping the cavalry in between lines of Spartan soldiers attacking from both sides.
The 300 Spartans was filmed in 1962 (IMDb) and directed by Rudolph Maté. Movies had only started being created a few decades before this film was made, sometimes for recruitment of young men to be American soldiers. The main message of the film is to portray the story of the Spartan men who laid down their lives to protect Greece. During the year 1962, the Vietnam War was occurring, so the portrayal of the bravery of the Spartan men may have been used to sway American men to join the war on Vietnam.