What have we learned?

[SuperMappy]

I learned that Dis DOES have standards, as well as apparently enough of a physical form to wear upsetting leather underwear.

Yeah, I was wondering how they were going to handle that rape scene, and they did it the best way possible.

True, unfortunetly they couldn't just remove it like the did in "Sidehackers"

[Gamera]

I learned that Iran has been tinkering with atomic energy for a very long time. 

Was anybody else confused by all the mutant monsters and 9 ft. tall god-kings and such?

[Douglin]

Well it's all a story that the One survivor guy(Cyclops) is telling to the second army to get them pumped up for the battle the next day so you could assume that he embellished the story in some places to make the Spartans more heroic and the Persians more evil.

[Gamera]

Oh.

So was Cyclops sneaking a peek through the bushes when Crabby VonNippleRings was beheading generals?

Or did he just pull the entire story out of his ass?

[RVR II]

I learned that it's OK to 'tag' the Queen while the King is out with 299 other guys yelling "WE ARE SPARTANS!!!' and building mountains with Persian bodies

[Junkyard]

On the Omnipotent Narrirator note, how did he know about what happened after we left?

[RobtheBarbarian]

I learned that Iran has been tinkering with atomic energy for a very long time. 

Was anybody else confused by all the mutant monsters and 9 ft. tall god-kings and such?

I thought the orcs and trolls were kind of a lame touch. I appreciate that it was intended to possibly potray the Greek's perception of the Persians and monstrous and inhuman or add a certain mythological touch, but come on. At least make them something more identifiable with the Greek/Persian world like minotaurs or something. Cave trolls and orcs havn't been original since LotR...

I learned that being an oracle in a tower makes your DNA fall apart and turns you into a degenerated freak.

[Douglin]

So was Cyclops sneaking a peek through the bushes when Crabby VonNippleRings was beheading generals?

Or did he just pull the entire story out of his ass?

I figure he just made up the parts about the saw handed man and whatnot.

On the Omnipotent Narrirator note, how did he know about what happened after we left?

I figure he knew they all died(because they didn't come back) so he made up the most heroic/inspiring death he could think of that didn't conflict with reality ie that Xeres was still alive.


And I figure that the scenes back in Sparta with the Queen are a bit less stylized because they were common knowledge to everyone after she killed the traitor guy so he couldn't beef them up really. (Although my theroey makes a bit more sense in the book when those bits weren't part of the story)

...it's just how I tried to make sense of it all in my head...I could be way off.

At least make them something more identifiable with the Greek/Persian world like minotaurs or something.

Good Call

[Just Some Guy]

On the Omnipotent Narrirator note, how did he know about what happened after we left?

IIRC, historically he watched the battle from the hills unwilling to leave until he had to.  And even then he killed himself rather than return in shame; he passed the message along to someone he met on the road back.

[Douglin]

Wikipedia says not so: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristodemus_(Spartan)

Along with a comrade, Eurytus, Aristodemus was stricken with an eye infection, causing King Leonidas to order the two to return home before the battle, but Eurytus turned back, though blind, and met his end charging into the fray.

Herodotus believed that had both Aristodemus and Eurytus returned alive, or had Aristodemus alone been ill and excused from combat, the Spartans would have ascribed no blame to Aristodemus. Because, however, Eurytus had turned back and died, Aristodemus was regarded as a coward and subjected to humiliation and disgrace at the hands of his compatriots. No Spartan would speak to him or give him a light to kindle his fire.

also apparently there were 3 slaves there for every 1soldier!

[RobtheBarbarian]

also apparently there were 3 slaves there for every 1soldier!

I remember reading about that. Each soldier had a little gaggle of slaves that came with him to carry his armor, cook, set up camp and other plebian stuff. I'm not sure, but I think it was one of the things Alexander the Great (possibly Philip II) did away with that made his armies more successful.

Speaking of slaves, I haven't seen the movie in a while - did it mention the part of Spartan initiation where they had to go out and night and strangle a slave without being caught before they completed training?

[Tony Farms AKA Puma Man]

On the Omnipotent Narrirator note, how did he know about what happened after we left?

Easy, he read the 300 comic before he spoke to the troops! 

[bettertomorrowamy]

Homer's Illyad is full of weird stuff like orcs and giants.  300 is based on an ancient Greek story.  It's not suprising it had the Spartans fighting improbable enemies.  It's hyperbole.

[Just Some Guy]

You must have read a very different version of the Iliad than I have or somehow have a copy of one of the eight lost epics that goes by Illyad.

Now the Odyssey does have an island of giant cyclopes (yes, that's the plural of cyclops; I had to look it up), but no orcs.

[RobtheBarbarian]

Monsters and such, yes, but I don't recall any LotR-style orcs from Greek or Persian mythology. It's kind of a shame that the lame cut-and-paste orcs got more face time than the Thracian barbarian mercenaries (the guys in the cow suits) and other actual Grecco-Persian stuff. It would have added immensely to the atmosphere of the movie to have more recognizably Greek or Persian elements.