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8/9/2019 The 300 - Separating Fact From Fiction
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SEPARATING FACT FROM FICTIONDr Kaveh Farrokh
Grossing over 70 million dollars in its first weekof release, the movie 300 is set to crash into
the list of highest grossing Hollywood blockbusters.
Its strong opening is a clear indicator of its success
with the North American and by implication,
European audiences. Although this picture is based
on a graphic novel by Frank Miller and directed by
Zack Snyder (Dawn of the Dead ), it is already being
portrayed as a “historical” movie, and will be
perceived as such by many (less discerning) viewers.
More significant however, are the conclusions that
are being derived from this picture.
The producers of the movie (as well as the
actors) are honest in stating that they did not
consult primary historical sources. The writer of the
comic book appears to have relied on the writings
of Greek historian Herodotus, whose works,
though valuable, inevitably contain an element of
bias, as do any historical works from any culture.
My article will not discuss the cinematography (a
job best left to the film critics), nor is it a criticism
of the cast and crew. There has been no agenda on
the part of the original novelist, movie director, cast
and crew to promote an anti-Iranian agenda. The
movie however (no matter how sincerely it was
intended as entertainment), is nevertheless purveying
messages; messages most certainly unintended by
Miller or the film producers.
The following commentary is specifically
directed against the very human biases and
distortions that currently pervade against ancient
Iran and Iranians; the very same views that 300 has
(inadvertently) perpetuated.
Though perhaps trivial, I feel my background
gives me a unique perspective. Born of Iranian
parents in Greece, I am a student of both ancient
Greece and its “East Roman” successor, Byzantium,
alongside my main research interest, ancient Iran.My Greek friends often cite me as a blend of
ancient Iran (or what the west terms as “Persia”)
and “Hellas” (Greece). It is often overlooked that
an Iranian can admire ancient Greece just as aGreek can do likewise with Persia. A Greek friend
stated this to me in an e-mail on Monday, March
12, 2007:
“I watched the movie 300…and I was totally
disappointed…The movie demonized the Persians,
everything that was depicted in the movie about the
Persians was untrue. The movie demonized also the
Greeks and through some words of Leonidas Greek
philosophers and Athenian civilization were downrated…I
wonder why I should watch demons and Spartans with a false image…there was no showing of glorious brave and
smart people from both sides. I have learned that what
Spartans did in Thermopylae was magnificent, that they
did not match any enemy but what they did there was
really magnificent because it was achieved against a very
brave, worthy and glorious enemy. …very few understand it.”
In the course of their historical intercourse, Greece
and Persia have created breathtaking works in
domains such as the arts, architecture, sciences,
music and of course, democracy and human rights.It is interesting that many modern Greeks
acknowledge and appreciate ancient Iran as a
civilization as worthy as their own, yet the same is
not necessarily true in northwest Europe and
North America.
This review will focus on eight items for
discussion:
1. The Notion of Democracy
and Human Rights2. What really led to War
3. The Military Conflict
Separating Fact from Fiction
4. The Error of Xerxes
The Burning of Athens
5. The “West” battling against the
“Mysticism” of “the East”
6. The Portrayal of Iranians and Greeks
7. A Note on the Iranian Womenin Antiquity
8. “Good” versus “Evil.”
OSPREYPUB L I SH ING
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What struck me about the movie was its
portrayal of the Greco-Persian Wars inbinary terms: the democratic, good, rational “Us”
versus the tyrannical, evil and irrational, “other” of
the ever-nebulous (if not exotic) “Persia.” Central
to this dichotomy is the following message:
300 men stood between victory and the collapse of
Western civilisation. If the barbarian hordes…overran
these defenders, Greek democracy and civilisation would
fall prey to alien forces whose cruelty was a byword.
[Christopher Hudson, “The Greatest Warriors Ever,”
The Daily Mail , March 9, 2007]
Note the key words “collapse of Western
civilization,” “barbarian hordes,” “democracy and
civilization” and “alien forces whose cruelty was a
byword.” These key words are reminiscent of
political sloganeering, targeting the “other” with
slanderous propaganda. These simplistic (and
patronizing) statements are a clear indication that
the general media and much of the audience is
seeing 300 as much more than just a movie of a
“graphic novel.” This has been astutely observed
by Tomas Engle, a student at a West Virginia
College, who has noted with some concern that
many people are viewing the movie to “inform
themselves on history.” [Tomas Engle’s article:
http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig8/engle1.html ]
The citations from popular media outlets are yet
another vivid demonstration of the gross prevailing
ignorance as to the actual origins of the notions of
human rights, democracy and freedom, as well as thecomplex factors that led to the Greco-Persian wars.
The origins of democracy and human rights are
not as simple as we are led to believe. As we will see
below, these notions share both Greek and Iranian
origins. The Greeks (the Athenians and their
Ionian kin in particular), created the notion of
“Demos” (the people) and “Kratus” (government).
This government by the people is what excites the
imagination of the contemporary “western world.”However, few acknowledge the role of “the East” in
helping place modern democracy as we know it
today, within the context of racial, religious and
cultural equality, or (more succinctly), human
rights.
The founder of the Achaemenid Empire, Cyrus
the Great, was the world’s first world emperor toopenly declare and guarantee the sanctity of human
rights and individual freedom.
The tomb of Cyrus. (www.livius.org)
Cyrus was a follower of the teachings of
Zoroaster (Zarathustra), the founder of one of the
world’s oldest monotheistic religions. Zoroaster
taught that good and evil resides in all members of
humanity, regardless of racial origin, ethnic mem-
bership or religious affiliation. Each person is given
the choice between good and evil – it is up to us to
choose between them. It is that goodness, and a
firm belief in its divinity, that is the key to human
liberty, according to Zoroaster. As a consequence,
every individual is entitled to liberty of thought,
action and speech. This is enshrined in Zoroaster’s
guidelines: Good Thoughts (Pendar Nik), GoodDeeds (Kerdar Nik) and Good Speech (Goftar
Nik).
As a result, freedom of thought, action and
speech are laden with the awesome responsibility
of wielding these for the good of all mankind.
Zoroaster taught that there is no such thing as a
“bad race” or “bad religion.” The only divide is that
between good and bad people, both within one’s
own community and those outside of one’scommunity. Zoroastrians often referred to ancient
Iran as “the land of the Free/Freedom” (Zamin
Azadegan).
1THE NOTION OF DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN RIGHTS
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Zoroaster preached the concept of an all-
powerful single god known as Ahura-Mazda (the
Supreme Angel), who stood for all that is good.
However, the acceptance of Ahura-Mazda was a
personal choice. There were to be no forced
conversions and the gods of all nationalities were
fully respected: Cyrus prostrated himself in front of the statue of Babylonian god Marduk after his
conquest of Babylon. As noted by Graf, Hirsch,
Gleason, & Krefter “Belief in a heavenly afterlife for
good people and torment for evildoers may have been
partly responsible for the moral treatment that Achaemenid
Kings accorded subject nations…”
The Greek warrior-historian Xenophon, spoke
highly of Cyrus in his Cyropaedia. Cyrus is
described as being void of deceit, arrogance, guileor selfishness. Cyrus is the first “one world hero” in
history, namely the ruler who sought to unite all
the peoples into one empire while according full
respect to all languages, creeds and religious
practices. Alexander the Great, who greatly admired
Cyrus, adopted his mantle of the “world hero” after
his conquests of Persia in 333–323 BC.
Cyrus’ system of government has been forever
immortalized by the Cyrus Cylinder. This is a clay
cylinder of a decree that was issued by Cyrus the
Great in 538 BC shortly after his conquest of
Babylon.
The three main premises in the decrees of the
Cyrus Cylinder were a) the institution of racial,
linguistic and religious equality; b) all exiled peoples
were to be allowed to return home; and c) all
destroyed temples were to be restored.
When Cyrus defeated King Nabonidus of
Babylon, he officially declared the freedom of the
Jews from their Babylonian captivity. This was the
first time in history that a world power had
guaranteed the survival of the Jewish people,
religion, customs and culture. Cyrus allowed the
Jews to rebuild their Temple and provided them
with funds to do so. The empire continued that
support as indicated by a decree by Darius the
Great in 519-518 BC by allowing the Jews to
complete the reconstruction of the JerusalemTemple (Ezra, 4:1). Cyrus’ magnanimity is reflected
in the Old Testament where he is cited as Yahweh’s
anointed (See Book of Ezra 1). Koresh (Hebrew for
Cyrus), was hailed as a Messiah by the Jews. Isaiah
cites Cyrus as “He is my Shepherd, and he shall
fulfill all my purpose” (Isaiah, 44.28; 45.1). The
Biblical characters Ezra, Daniel, Esther and Mordecai
played historically important roles in the Persian
court. The tomb of Esther and Mordecai still standsto this day in Hamadan, the site of the ancient city
of Ecbatana, a city that has hosted Jews for over
2500 years. The Persian king Xerxes himself was
married to a Jewish queen named Esther.
Tomb of Esther and Mordecai in Hamadan, Iran.
Professor Victor Davis Hanson (Senior Fellow at
the Hoover Institution, Stanford University,
Professor Emeritus at California University)
summarizes the issue of “Freedom versus Tyranny”
very succinctly:
If critics think that 300 reduces and simplifies the meaning
of Thermopylae into freedom versus tyranny, they should reread carefully ancient accounts and then blame
Herodotus, Plutarch, and Diodorus – who long ago
boasted that Greek freedom was on trial against Persian
autocracy…in almost all wars, one side is defending its
freedom. The Greeks were not the first human beings to
defend their freedom…monarchy is not something
Eastern…when these ‘freedom-defender’ Greeks were
united under Alexander, they did the same thing…they
invaded Persia, Egypt and India and created their own
empire…so did their Roman successors…
[See the full text at http://www.victorhan-son.com/articles/hanson101106.html]
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2 WHAT REALLY LED TO WAR
THE UNTOLD STORY
As noted above, Western popular opinion and
academic historiography portrays the Greco-Persian wars as being an epic contest between
liberty, as represented by Greece, and “Persian
Tyranny.” Professor Richard Nelson Frye, however
cautions us that such historical narratives are “…an
example of imposing modern concepts on the past…
distorting our understanding…” [Richard Nelson Frye,
1984, p.93]
Yes, indeed it is true that the Ionian revolt on the
west Anatolian coast and the support of theAthenians for their Hellenic ethnic kin against the
Persian Empire was a major factor that led Darius
the Great (549–486 BC), the father of Xerxes, to
invade Greece in 490 BC. But this is only a part of
the story. Very few western historians have discussed
the role of economic rivalry as a factor in the
Greco-Persian wars.
By this time, the Greeks had established a
powerful maritime economic empire in the
Mediterranean Sea. The Greeks established colonies
in southern Italy as well as contemporary southern
France; an example of this legacy is seen in the
name of the city of “Nice” (pronounced /nees/) in
southern, France – “Nice” is derived from the
Greek Nicea (modern Nice). Greek trading posts
had also been established in the Caucasus, in the
Modern Republic of Georgia.
The Achaemenid Empire became a marine
empire as soon as it reached the Aegean Sea.
Darius the Great built the world’s first formal
“Imperial Navy,” many of its ships manned by
Phoenician, Egyptian and (Hellenic) Ionians. Moreimportantly, the Persian Empire began to “muscle
in” on the economic sphere of the Greeks in the
Mediterranean and the Black Sea (see Cook, The
Greeks in Ionia and the East , 1962, pp.98–120;
132-133; K. Farrokh, Shadows in the Desert:
Ancient Persia at War , Chapter 4). Italian researchers
such as Nik Spatari have confirmed that Darius had
sent naval scouts as far as Southern Italy to gain
information on possible trade contacts with the
western Mediterranean (Farrokh, Shadows in the
Desert: Ancient Persia at War, Chapter 4).
Reconstruction of Achaemenid ships in 1971.
Persia’s growing economic strength in the
Mediterranean was certainly of great concern to
the Greeks and their prosperity. The Greco-Persian
wars were as much about economics, as they were
about systems of government. For further referencesconsult the bibliography.
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3THE MILITARY CONFLICT
SEPARATING FACT FROM FICTION
There are very few historians who doubt the
tenacity and military skill of the Greekdefenders who faced the invading army of Xerxes.
The 300 movie displayed the equipment of the
Spartans relatively well, considering that the
producers were intent on reproducing the images of
a comic book, leaving little room for consultation
with modern scholarship. If the portrayal of the
Greek side was adequate, that of “the Persians” was
pure fantasy. This being said, there are already a large
number of viewers who have taken these images in
a very “literal” and historical context – the human
mind is indeed a very impressionable organ.
The discussion here is a very quick and overall
analysis of the actual military factors that were in
place during Xerxes’ invasion of Greece in 480 BC
– however we will digress into the post-Alexandrian
eras, notably the evolution of the Persian knights
during the Parthian (238 BC–AD 224) and
Sassanian (AD 224–651) eras. I will closely
scrutinize the veracity of whether Xerxes actually
wielded 1,700,000 troops during his invasion of
Greece. By no means is this discussion adequate,
however it is hoped that the reader’s curiosity will
be sufficiently piqued as to encourage further
research and readings.
WEAPONSGreek spears and swords were longer than their
Achaemenid counterparts. This meant that in hand
to hand combat, the Spartans held the advantage
and were able to “outrange” their opponents with
their swords and spears, which were primarily used
for thrusting (see Farrokh, Shadows in the Desert:
Ancient Persia at War , Chapters 4–5). The swords of
“the Persians” in the movie are of no historical
relevance – many of the Iranian swords of that era
were short and dagger-like. These were known as
the “Akenakes.”
Scythian (left) and Mede (right).
Saka Tigrakhauda (Tall-capped Scythian to the
left) and a Mede (round cap to the right) appearingbefore the Achaemenid kings at the Imperial palace
of Persepolis. Note the short size of the akenakes
daggers, which proved inadequate in hand to hand
combat against Greek warriors. For a thorough
examination of the akenakes daggers, as well as all
Iranian military gear from the Bronze Age to the
19th century, consult Manoucher Moshtagh
Khorasani’s comprehensive book on the subject
Arms and Armor from Iran: The Bronze Age to end of the
Qajar Period ,
http://www.arms-and-armor-from-iran.de/
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ARMOR Greek troops were far better armored than their
opponents, although it is not clear if all the Spartans
wore heavy armor at Thermopylae. Greek helmets,
body armor and greaves provided excellent
protection against blade weapons in hand to hand
combat, whereas the vast majority of theAchaemenids lacked significant armor protection.
Scale armor was available, but not to the majority
of troops. When engaged in hand to hand combat,
Achaemenid troops were exposed to deadly spear
thrusts as well as hacking/thrusts against their faces,
limbs and torso (see Farrokh,Shadows in the Desert:
Ancient Persia at War , Chapters 4–5). The movie
portrayal of Achaemenid armor was pure fiction
and has no resemblance to that issued among
Achaemenid troops.
THE MARTIAL ARTSTRADITION OF GREECEThe 300 movie did capture the camaraderie, zeal
and “esprit de corps” of the Spartans very well, and
represented the contemporary military culture of
ancient Sparta in a fairly realistic manner.
Greece (as a whole) was the heir to an excellent
martial arts tradition. According to legend, thenewborn child in Sparta would be washed by his
mother in wine to ensure that the child was strong
and fit (the weaker baby would reputedly die from
the bathing). The father would then bring the baby
to advisors who would ultimately decide if the
newborn child was fit to be raised as a Spartan. If
the baby “failed” the test, he would cast off a cliff or
gulley at Mount Taygetos, known as the “Kaiada.”
As shown in the movie, the boys of Sparta begantraining from the age of 7. Formal military service
would begin at the age of twenty. Examination of
Greek vases clearly shows Greek warriors engaged
in very “modern” training methods: kicking,
boxing, wrestling, Pankration, using “speedbags”
etc. Training and drills were at least as brutal as
combat situations. Sparta was very much a warrior
society; it was the Athenians and their ethnic
cousins in Ionia (modern western Turkey), then
under Persian rule, who were at the forefront of theHellenic Democratic tradition.
THE GREEK PHALANX SYSTEMThe Greeks in general had developed the phalanx
system, where soldiers fought as one unit in a
single formation. Central to this system was the use
of overlapping shields which formed an
impenetrable barrier against javelins, spears and
arrows. The Macedonians of northern Greece,perfected the phalanx and adopted the 12-foot long
pike or “sarissa” used with devastating effect by
Alexander the Great during his invasion of Persia.
The Chiqi vase showing a Greek Phalanx. (www.livius.org)
The Greeks often engaged in close quarter
combat and had been doing so for centuries
before the Achaemenid invasions. Suffice it to say
that when it came to hand to hand combat, the
Spartans held the advantage. Thanks to their
training, the Spartans were so disciplined that they
were able to collectively maneuver the phalanx at
a single command. With their shields locked
together, the phalanx was able to march and put
forward all of their spears simultaneously. There was
no breaking of formation in acts of battlefieldindividualism – all warriors were expected to
adhere strictly and steadfastly to the phalanx. The
spears protruded in deadly fashion towards the
onrushing enemy, with deadly results. The Greeks
testify to the bravery of the lightly armored
Iranians who tried to break the spears of the
Spartans with their bare hands in an endeavor to
get close to the warriors within the phalanx.
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THE EVOLUTION OF CAVALRYThe portrayal of “Persian cavalry” was totally wrong
in the movie with respect to weapons, equestrian
gear and uniforms. Superficially, these resembled
more the Arab horsemen seen during the Arabo-
Islamic conquests over a thousand years after
the battle of Thermopylae and bore littleresemblance to either the Iranian cavalry of the
Achaemenid era (559–333 BC), or the armored
knights of the later Parthian and Sassanian eras of
Persia (238 BC–AD 651). Below is a reconstruction
of Iranian heavy cavalry of the Achaemenid period.
Despite their formidable armor, Achaemenid
cavalry had yet to solve the problem of rider stability,
especially against well-trained, heavily armored,
lance/spear wielding infantry fighting in phalanxes(see Farrokh, Shadows in the Desert: Ancient Persia at
War , Chapters 4–5). This is mainly because the
Iranians had not yet invented saddle technology
advanced enough to keep the rider stable as he
fought on horseback. As a result, Iranian cavalry
during the Achaemenid period was vulnerable to
unseating by Greek heavy infantry, as observed by
Xenophon in the early 400s BC.
Nevertheless, Iranian cavalry continued to evolve,
even after the Alexandrian conquests of the Persian
Empire. It was the cavalry which had posed the
greatest challenge to the Greeks during their
conquests of Persia, and the Greeks were duly
impressed by them. Xenophon warned about the
dangers of the Iranian cavalry, a prophecy which
was to prove true with the rise of the Parthians and
the Sassanians. It was these new Persian knights
who finally defeated the Seleucid successors of
Alexander and who scored dramatic victoriesagainst Marcus Licinius Crassus at Carrhae (53 BC),
and against Roman Emperors Severus Alexander
(Ctesiphon in 233 AD), Gordian III (Mesiche in
244 AD), Phillip the Arab (Barbalissos in 253 AD),
Valerian (Carrhae-Edessa in 260 AD), and Julian
(inside Persia in 363 AD). By the 5th century AD,
the Turks had arrived from the North of China into
Central Asia and Europe, and were influencing the
Iranians and the Romans: the Turks were probably
the first to invent stirrups.
Very few are aware of the positive references to
the military skill of the later Persian knights. One
example is Libianus who, referring to the Sassanian
knights, notes that Roman troops “prefer to suffer any
fate rather than look a Persian in the face.”
[Libianus, XVIII, pp.205-211; Consult also
Farrokh, Sassanian Elite Cavalry, 2005, p.5]
Much of the armor of these knights appears very
“European”; the warriors wear mail, plate armor,
riveted Spangenhelm helmets, broadswords, macesand battle-axes. Yet these warriors predate their
European counterparts by centuries (see Farrokh,
Sassanian Elite Cavalry).
Though the Spartans (and indeed the Greeks as a
whole) are rightfully remembered as magnificent
warriors whose exploits and heroism resonate across
time, Persia too gave birth to magnificent military
tradition: the Partho-Sassanian elite cavalry, known as
the “Savaran.” Is it not interesting that nobody has
even heard of the Savaran? As noted by Greek-
Canadian historian, George Tsonis:“Unfortunately we
probably will never see movies of Roman defeats in ‘the
east’ at the hands of Persian knights…such movies would
most probably bomb at the box office.”
This bias is not confined to the entertainment
media. The academic community (mainly in north-
west European and English-speaking world) has
until recently continued to champion ancient
Greece and diminish, sideline and even ignore theSavaran. This bias can be seen in the comments of
world renowned military historian, Professor John
Keegan, who in reference to the Persian influence
on western European cavalry states in no uncertain
Mede Cavalryman of the later Achaemenid era.
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XERXES’ INVASION FORCEFew question the fact that Xerxes’ army was huge
and that the Greeks were outnumbered. The
question is “by how much”? The movie trailer states:
“They [the Spartans] were 300 men against a Million” The
main source of these accounts for modern
European scholarship is Herodotus, who actuallycites 1,700,000 invaders (Herodotus, VII, 60).
Herodotus, who wrote after the Greco-Persian wars
of Darius and Xerxes had ended, and before the age
of Alexander.
Herodotus lists a total of 46 nations mustered by
Xerxes in his invasion of Greece (see Farrokh,
Shadows in the Desert: Ancient Persia at War , Chapter
5). The vast numbers of troops were actually a
liability as co-ordination and communication andlogistical support must have been complex,
particularly in contrast to the much smaller and
compact, and linguistically uniform, Greek force.
Nevertheless, it is unfair to pin these quantitative
citations solely on Herodotus. The Greek tragedy by
Aeschylos, The Persians, describes the Greeks facing
Xerxes’ armies as facing “a great flood of humans…a
wave of the sea that cannot be contained by the most solid
dikes”(The Persians, lines 87–90) and “…a rash ruler
of populous Asia [Xerxes] pushes a human herd to the conquest of the entire world” (The Persians, 73–75).
From the mid-19th to the early 20th centuries a
number of European scholars began to question the
fantastic numbers cited by Herodotus. European
researchers such as Gobineau and Delbrueck began
to seriously doubt the numerical claims made
by Classical sources. The table below cites some
of the researchers of the period who provided
the following estimates as to the actual sizeof Xerxes’ invading armies:
Scholar Citation and Year Estimate of Xerxes’ troops
Eduard Meyer As cited in W. K. Prentice, “Thermopylae and 100,000 plus an equal number of
Artemisium,” Transactions and Proceedings of the non-combat support personnel
American Philological Association,Vol. 51, 1920 pp.5-18
Ernst Obst “Der Feldzug des Xerxes,” in Klio, 90,000
Beiheft 12, Leipzig, 1914, p.88
Comte de Histoire des Perses, Volume II, 1869 p.191 90,000
Gobineau
Reginald Walter Herodotus, The Seventh, Eighth and 90,000
Macan Ninth Books, London, 1908, Vol. II, p.164
William Woodthorpe “The Fleet of Xerxes,” The Journal 60,000
Tarn of Hellenic Studies, 28, 1908, p.208
Hans Delbrueck Die Perserkriege und die 55,000
Burgunderkriege , Berlin, 1887, p. 164
Robert von Fischer “Das Zahlenproblem in Perserkriege 40,000480-479,”Klio, N. F., vol. VII, p.289
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Most modern scholarship appears to accept the
figure of 100,000-200,000 invading troops, a figure
consistent with the population base of the
Achaemenid Persian Empire at the time (Farrokh,
Shadows in the Desert: Ancient Persia at War , Chapter 5). Even if the Persian Empire had had the
population base to produce 1,700,000 troops, it
would have faced a gargantuan task in organizing
and deploying these without the benefit of modern
computers and communications technology. Even if
such an army could be organized to set off on the
mammoth journey from Asia to Greece, ancient
logistics and supply would not have been able to
sustain such fantastic numbers of troops in so
ambitious a campaign. These capabilities date from
far more recent modern times, from the time of the
American Civil War (1861–1865) and the advent
of the railway and telegraph.
At Thermopylae, the Greek numbers were close
to 6,000, when counting all of the Spartans and
Greek kinsmen. Still, even if we take the lowest
estimate of 40,000 Achaemenid Persian troops, the
Greeks would have been vastly outnumbered,
especially during King Leonidas’ last stand.
Few have addressed the engineering feats that
Xerxes’ engineers accomplished in building the
world’s first true bridge between Asia and Europe.
For an introduction to the engineering feats that
led to the invasion of Europe from Asia Minor
(modern Turkey), you may wish to consult the
History Channel program “Engineering an
Empire: The Persians.”
A FINAL NOTE:THE BATTLE OF SALAMISThere are other inaccuracies in the movie as well,
especially with regards to the Greek perspective.
First, the Spartans were not exactly “democratic” inthe Athenian sense; theirs was a hierarchical and
militaristic society. To argue that the Spartans were
“fighting for Democracy” is somewhat simplistic.
It is correct however that the Spartans fought for
the glory of Greece, which included Democracy.
That does not necessarily mean that the Spartans
specifically stood for Democracy as the Athenians
and Ionians did.
Second, the 300 Spartans were not alone in their last stand – they were accompanied to the death by
at least 300 Thessapian Hoplites, who fought shoulder
to shoulder beside them. The fact is that Xerxes
finally won at Thermopylae and pushed through
into Greece. The battle that actually saved Greece
from total conquest occurred at sea: the battle of
Salamis, after the forcing of Thermopylae. Xerxes
could not maintain or expand his European land
conquests if he could not control the seas. The
Greeks under the bold leadership of Admiral
Themistocles lured Xerxes’ fleet into a trap in the
straits between Salamis itself and Piraeus.
Typical of the drama of Greek politics,
Themistocles, the man who had rescued Greece
from the jaws of defeat, was later condemned as a
traitor to Greece and forced to flee Athens! Even
more ironic is the fact that Themistocles was given
shelter by Artaxerxes I, the successor of Xerxes I!
In my opinion, it would be fascinating to have ahistorically balanced movie that would portray the
lives of Themistocles, Xerxes, Artemesia, and
Artaxerxes.
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4THE ERROR OF XERXES THE BURNING OF ATHENS
The greatest blunder committed by Xerxes inhis invasion of Greece were his very un-
Persian actions in ordering the city of Athens to be
torched, including the Acropolis.
Xerxes’ troops destroyed many towns, villages,
farms and temples. These actions stiffened the
Greek determination to resist and expel the invader
from their soil. As I have previously noted, the
statues of sacred Greek gods were confiscated and
bought to Persia – an action that only fueled theintensity of the Greek desire to seek vengeance.
This culminated in the invasion and conquest of
Persia by Alexander the Great in the 330s BC.
Xerxes soon realized the error of his actions, butit was too late. His offers to rebuild Athens after the
battles were firmly rejected by the Greeks. Most
significant however was the fact that Xerxes had
broken the tradition of tolerance and respect that
had been shown by Cyrus the Great towards
captured cities. How would history have been
different had Xerxes behaved in Athens as Cyrus
had in Babylon? One thing is certain: the West has
never forgiven Xerxes’ invasion of Classical Greece.
The Acropolis in Athens
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6THE PORTRAYAL OF IRANIANS AND GREEKS
What struck me most vividly in this movie
was the following question: Where are theGreek actors in this movie? After all, is this movie
not narrating a story about ancient Greece?
The straight forward answer would be that the
movie producers were depicting the characters of a
graphic novel, which may explain their casting
decisions. There still remains the question however
of why not at least consider utilizing Greek actors to
portray Greek historical characters?
Hollywood seems intent on conveying a certain“image” of the Classical World. Perhaps there is a
desire to “Nordify” ancient Greece just as there is a
desire to “Orientalize” the ancient Iranians. At least
the portrait of King Leonidas in the movie was
consistent with the depictions of ancient Greeks as
seen in the vases of Classical Greece. For a previous
discussion of the depiction of Greeks and Iranians
in Hollywood by the author, kindly consult: “The
Alexander Movie: How are Greeks and Iranians
Portrayed?” on
http://www.ghandchi.com/iranscope/Anthology/
KavehFarrokh/farrokh6.htm.
When it comes to the portrayal of the Iranians
and the Greeks, I find the following observation by
Dr. Ahmad Sadri (College Professor of Islamic
World Studies, Lake Forest College) rather astute:
Snyder’s Persians – I am not talking about the
disposable extras covered up to their eyes in male burqas
– are predominantly black and by implication of
mannerism and affect, homosexual. Allowing the widest
berth for the genre and medium one still marvels at
Snyder’s audacity in demonizing the “Asiatic hordes”
while morphing the Spartan warrior into the typical
white American survivalist. Snyder’s Spartans are white
guys fighting a sea of racially inferior blacks, yellows and
browns.
As I walked out of the theater during the closing
credits, I heard the following comment by one of
the viewers in the audience:This movie chose really excellent Eye-ranian [Iranian]
actors – they showed them so accurately – just what you
would expect them to be…
It is very interesting that in this movie (and its
comic book original) insists on portraying the“Persians” (especially the elites) as black Africans.
In the movie trailer, King Leonidas is shown
kicking the “Persian messenger” into a bottomless
pit and shouting “This is Sparta!” The “Persian
messenger” is black. Other Persians in the film are
also black, including a “Persian” general executed
by Xerxes and a “Persian” emissary sent to
communicate with Leonidas – the latter role
being played by talented actor Tyrone Benskin.
Interestingly, the recent movie Alexander (starring
Colin Farrell), featured (with few exceptions)
Arabic-speaking North Africans instead of Iranians
in the role of the Persians, whereas the 300 book
and movie portrays Iranians as Africans. As we shall
see later below, there are indications that
Hollywood (in general) believes that such portrayals,
however inaccurate, “sell better” in North America
and Northwest Europe.
There are no Greek or Roman references to
black “Persians” and Greco-Roman sources also
clearly distinguish between the Arabs of antiquity
and “the Persians.” Greek vase art from the
Classical period show “the Persians” as remarkably
similar to the Greeks – their differences are in
wardrobe and equipment.
In this discussion, I will make use of the term
“Iranian” as opposed to “Persian” as the former is
more inclusive and includes Kurds, Azeris, Persians
and other peoples of Iranic origin. The term
“Persian” was used by the Greeks to designate all
Iranian peoples of the time, when in fact, the Medes
and the Scythians (Saka) were also partners in
empire alongside the Persians.
There is a dearth of primary sources to help
archeologists, anthropologists and historians
reconstruct the ancient Iranians contemporary to
Xerxes’ invasion of Greece. Note the clear distinction that is made between African
(Ethiopian) and Caucasian (Iranian) troops by
Greek vase-arts in Nick Sekunda’s The Persian Army
560–330 BC , Osprey Publishing, 1992, pp.16–17).
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…many Armenian and Azeri types are derived from
European and northern Caucasian types (p.1263)…The
U5 cluster… in Europe… although rare elsewhere in the
Near east, are especially concentrated in the Kurds,
Armenians and Azeris…a hint of partial European
ancestry for these populations – not entirely unexpected
on historical and linguistic grounds [Richards et al.,
(2000). Tracing European founder lineages in theNear Eastern mtDNA pool. American Journal of
Human Genetics, 67, pp.1263–1264, 2000]
There were no genetic links between the Iranian
groups cited and the Arabs of that study. Interestingly,
a number of Turks from western Turkey in the
Richard study showed incidences of the European
gene markers, indicating mixtures with Greek and
other European populations in the course of Turkish
history. Suffice it so say that Caucasians with
so-called “European” appearances are nothing
unusual in today’s Iran – they are part and parcel of
today’s multi-ethnic Iran.
Photograph taken in 1971 by Ali Massoudi of a girl from Rasht in
Gilan province, Northern Iran (Source: R. Tarverdi (Editor) & A.
Massoudi (Art editor), The land of Kings, Tehran: Rahnama
Publications, 1971, p.116).
There seems to be very little international
motivation to understand the multifaceted nature
of the Iranians themselves as well as their history
and culture. A survey by Jack Shaheen (author of
The TV Arab, 1984) in the early 1980s found that
over 80 percent of North Americans wrongly
believe Iranians to be Arabs and to speak Arabic.This may explain in part the persistence of the
“Hollywood Persian” image in the entertainment
industry.
ADDENDUM: IS THERE ACASE OF INSTITUTIONALIZEDDISCRIMINATION AGAINSTIRANIANS IN HOLLYWOOD?
There are disturbing indications that a subtle
form of racism has at times been applied inHollywood against actors and extras of Iranian
origin. A vivid example of this was demonstrated
over 15 years ago during the filming of the action
movie The Hitman, starring Chuck Norris, released
in 1991. A portion of the filming took place in
North Vancouver, British Columbia in Canada in
1989–1990. The directors and Norris put ads in the
local papers asking for Iranians to audition as
extras for the movie. What happened next is as
comical as it is tragic.
Many of the “Iranians” who showed up on the
set proved to be a major disappointment to Norris.
This is because, far from fitting into the popularized
“Hollywood Persian” stereotype, the potential
Iranian extras displayed a variety of phenotypes. The
group included Iranians from the northern regions
(Gilan, Mazandaran, Semnan, Talesh), the northwest
(Azerbaijan) and the west (Lurs and Kurds) as well
people from Isfahan and Tehran. Many of these
could appear as “regular Americans” on the street or
in your local shopping mall. The directors and
Norris were very disappointed at this and were
visibly upset. Here is an excerpt by one of the
auditioning Iranian extras on the set (his identity
withheld at his request):
…the directors came to the set and were upset to see us.
Among us were Mashadis of Turcomen background [with
Central Asian/Far eastern appearance], Baluchis and more blondish types from the north and west…Norris and
the directors said ‘what are these Caucasians doing
on the set? I said I want ‘Iranian extras’ not
Caucasians…Americans like to see real Iranians…
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7 A NOTE ON THE IRANIAN WOMEN IN ANTIQUITY
Ireceived the following e-mail which aptly
summarizes this segment of our discussion:“Have you seen the movie? I have heard that it was so
insulting to Persian women…”
The 300 movie certainly portrayed Iranian
women as shallow, mindless “harem girl-objects.”
This is even testified to in the trailer.
The portrayal of Iranian women in this movie is
not only grossly inaccurate in historical terms, but
also degrading, insulting to women in general.
Again, this seems to be derived from a massive senseof ignorance regarding the role of Iranian women
in history.
The women of ancient Iran were priestesses (i.e.
at the Temple of Anahita), warriors, leaders and
guardians of learning. While a detailed discussion is
beyond the scope of this article, a few highlights
will hopefully serve to arouse the interest of the
readers.
Roman sources are very clear in referring towomen among the ranks of the Iranian cavalry in
the Sassanian era: “in the Persian army…there are said
to have been found women also, dressed and armed like
men…” [Zonaras (XII, 23, 595, 7-596, 9) in
reference to the forces of Shapur I.
King Shapur receives the surrender of Emperor Valerian at
Barbalissos. Female Iranian cavalry officer (left), nobleman of the
Suren clan (with tall “beaked” hat), Emperor Valerian (kneeling),
Roman Senator (man with toga) and King Shapur I (right)
(Angus McBride © Osprey Publishing)
Iranian women organized resistance against the
Arabian invaders of the Ummayad and later Abbassid caliphates after the fall of Sassanian Iran
(or Persia) in the 7th century AD. Key figures
include Apranik, the daughter of General Piran, as
well as Azadeh, guerilla resistance leader of Gilan-
Mazandaran in northern Iran, and Banu, the wife of
the anti-Abassid rebel Babak Khurramdin who led
a decades long anti-Caliphate movement from
Iranian Azerbaijan (see Farrokh, Shadows in the
Desert: Ancient Persia at War, Chapters 4–5).
Iranian women continued to play leadership roles
well after the fall of Sassanian Iran (or Persia) to the
Islamic invaders of Arabia in the 7th century AD.
One example is the governess of Rayy, birthplace of
the medical savant Rhazes (near modern Tehran):
Governess of Rayy.
The equality of women with men in enshrined
in the Zoroastrian religion itself. One of the
Zoroastrian fables refers to a conversation between
Zoroaster and his daughter Freyne highlighting the
fact that it is up to women to choose their mates for
courtship and marriage.
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8“GOOD” VERSUS “EVIL”
Ashort and final point has to do with the
portrayal of “the Persians” as “evil.” In one of the earlier scenes, King Leonidas holds a dying boy
who, in reference to the invading host, states softly
that the Persians“…came from the blackness…” It is
very clear that “the Persians” are literally portrayed
as “evil.” The retort to this is that the movie is only
faithfully reproducing the characters of a harmless
comic book. But is it?
How would members of other ethnic
communities worldwide feel if their ancestors werebeing portrayed as monsters, troglodytes, degenerates,
and demons? These same producers would
probably think twice if they were to portray other
nationalities in the manner that they have done
with the “Persians.” If my logic (flawed as it may
be) is not mistaken, portraying Iranians as monsters,
troglodytes, degenerates, and demons is “artistic
entertainment,” but other nationalities are exempt
from this “art form” as this would be “tasteless and
politically incorrect” and would be regarded as a
“hate crime.”
The targeting of specific ethnic groups with
negative attributes in the name of entertainment
dollars is dangerously misinformed and irresponsible.
As noted earlier in this commentary, viewers and
media outlets (especially in the English-
speaking world) are already interpreting much of
the movie in a “historical” light. The Greco-Persian
wars evoke very intense emotions in northwest
European culture, in some ways even more so thanin modern-day Greece and Italy. The movie 300
has successfully capitalized on those very emotions
in the quest for profit.
It is at this juncture of the discussion, where we
must remind ourselves of one of Zoroaster’s chief
teachings: Zoroaster taught that good and evil
resides in all members of humanity, regardless of
racial origin, ethnic membership or religious
affiliation. Each person is given the choice betweengood and evil – it is up to us to choose between
them.
Having discussed the issues at length, it is hoped
that the reader will appreciate the multifaceted and
organic nature of human history. Nations, peoples
and cultures have had a symbiotic relationship with
one another through trade, cultural exchanges and
war. It is these very processes that have shaped our
identities and who we perceive ourselves to be
today. As the size of our world diminishes daily due
to the breathtaking leaps in technology and
communications, it is all the more important to
make the endeavor to understand history, not in
terms of “east” versus “west,” but with the appreciation
of human civilization being a collective.
Kaveh Farrokh
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9BIBLIOGRAPHY
Notions of Democracy and Human
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