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gunnut · 03-10-2007, 00:09 AM

People have a tendency to exaggerate. This was especially true way back when there was no way to document anything. They had to go by hear-say. Most historians put the Persian forces at 200,000 to 250,000. A good portion of that force was loaded up on boats.

Thermopylae is a natural bottleneck. It was chosen by the Greeks to negate or minimize Persian's numerical superiority. There was no doubt about that.

Another thing about warfares back then was that it could be more ritualistic than warfare today. There could be people calling each other out and/or fighting on even numbers. Persians could have observed rules like this and fought the Spartans in small groups at a time or even individual duels.

These factors COULD contribute to the legend of the 300 Spartans.

Nevertheless, the movie was really close to the graphic novel, which was quite close to recorded and verifiable historical event.

03-10-2007, 00:09 AM	#8 (permalink)
gunnut *Senior Contributor* Join Date: 01-27-06 Location: DPRK, Democratik People's Republik of Kalifornia Posts: 9,365 Country:	People have a tendency to exaggerate. This was especially true way back when there was no way to document anything. They had to go by hear-say. Most historians put the Persian forces at 200,000 to 250,000. A good portion of that force was loaded up on boats. Thermopylae is a natural bottleneck. It was chosen by the Greeks to negate or minimize Persian's numerical superiority. There was no doubt about that. Another thing about warfares back then was that it could be more ritualistic than warfare today. There could be people calling each other out and/or fighting on even numbers. Persians could have observed rules like this and fought the Spartans in small groups at a time or even individual duels. These factors COULD contribute to the legend of the 300 Spartans. Nevertheless, the movie was really close to the graphic novel, which was quite close to recorded and verifiable historical event. __________________ "Only Nixon can go to China." -- Old Vulcan proverb.