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The history of the battle of thermopylae
The history of the battle of thermopylae
The history of the battle of thermopylae
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In the movie 300, the Spartan army, of 300 fight in the Battle of Thermopylae. The Spartans fight the Persians, however they are greatly outnumbered. The Persian King Xerxes sends thousand of his soldiers to fight the Spartan warriors in hopes of gaining Greece. The Spartans, along with Athenians, and slaves, fight the Persia army in one last attempt to save Greece. 300 tells how the Spartan warriors are trained and taught. The filmmakers of 300 chose to historically keep that weak babies were rejected and that children were trained at seven years old to become Spartan soldiers, while; the filmmakers chose to change battle techniques, the portrayal of the Spartan men as "family men”, and made the Persian warriors "immortal”, for reasons of dramatic, emotional, and theatrical effect. …show more content…
This is consistent with the text "Life of Lycurgus", Plutarch writes "if they found it puny or ill-shaped, (a newborn) ordered it to be taken to what is called Apothetae, a sort of chasm under Taygetus." (7). Spartans did not believe in weakness. They wanted everyone in their kingdom to be strong and threatening. The filmmakers decided to keep the idea of a baby being thrown off a cliff because it adds dramatic effect, and historical accuracy. Babies are seen as innocent, precious, and weak. By a movie having its opening scene be a man contemplating throwing a baby off a cliff it adds a very dramatic moment to the beginning of the film and pulls the audience
As with most historical re-enactments, 300 places significant exaggeration on each civilizations central city-state ideologies and this is reflected in each scene by the actions of the individuals throughout Zack Snyder’s film. The representation of the Spartan warrior mentality through scenes depicting young Spartan children throughout their childhood participating in multiple life threatening challenges; are seemingly accurate as the primary purpose of Spartan schooling was to produce perfect soldiers, through strictly disciplined military training that began for all boys at the age of 7 as they left home to join the agoge. The agoge was set up in order to weaken family ties and create personal identity. These children were usually allotted no shoes, little clothing and educated through a vigorous training schedule of boxing, wrestling, javelin and discus throwing. They suffered through harsh conditions and were taught to take satisfaction in enduring pain and hardship, as well as to value strengt...
“A New Historicist article… teases out the many contributing causes that brought about disparate social elements in that way” (Mays, 2352). The movie shows the build-up to the battle of 300 Spartan soldiers against the armies of Persia, albeit in artistic and stylized manner. It covers the tensions and political drama that led to the clashing of men, as well as showing the historical context in which it took place. “..New Historicism doubts the accessibility of the past, insisting that all we have is discourse” (Mays, 2351). 300 doesn’t concern itself with trying to trying to access the past, but puts on an artistic representation of what happened that can be discussed in a modern
Defiance is a movie based on a true story of four Polish Jewish Bielski brothers that were trying to survive from Nazi Army during World War II. The movie started with Hitler ordering his army to kill Poland’s Jewish Citizen. During that time, the Polish Police worked closely with Nazis and they gave the whereabout of Bielski’s location. The Nazis successful found and murdered the parents of Bielski brothers. After this event, the two older brothers, Tuvia and Zus, took the two younger siblings, Aasel and Aron, in Belorussian forest to hide and find a shelter. While they were settling in the forest, they invited several other Jews who are escaping from Nazis and create a little community in the forest. As a result, group norms were formed
This is exactly how Spartans acted, and expected their children to act. This hardened personality starts at birth, when parents gave their child to the elders so they could examine him or her and make judgement on whether or not they should live. If a baby is weak or feeble, it was left on Apothetae, as Plutarch states in source two. This occuredd because the elder’s thought process was that if a baby is weak from the beginning, it is not worthy to live in Sparta, and would simply use up resources without giving back to society. When men went to war, their mothers often used the phrase “with your shield or on it,” when saying goodbye. This essentially meant that the son should either come home a hero or die for the state. This phrase’s meaning was quite literal, if a woman’s son came home after losing or doing something cowardly in war, she would oftentimes kill him and bury him without dismay. Using this for motivation, Spartan soldiers did all they could to win battles using both force and tactics. The way they acted ultimately brought great success to the state and they never lost a
The lifestyle and in some occasions their occupations were chosen from the time they were born. For example, when a Spartan women gave birth to a boy, soldiers went to the place where the baby was born and examined it to determine the strength of the child. Uniquely then the baby is placed into a bath, but not a bathed in water, but wine to see its reaction (“Spartans”). If the baby squirmed and cried a lot then it would be taken away from the parents to become a helot, or a slave. If the child took the bath well, then it would one day become a soldier in the Spartan army (“Spartans”). The Spartans were particularly picky about their children, so much that infanticide was a major problem (“Spartans”). Children had a hard role to fill in Spartans society, because not only was the fate of the child determined by the family but also by the city-state in which the child lived. So if you were not as strong or as intelligent as others you were looked down upon (“Spartans”). The boys that were strong and intelligent though, were taking from their family at age 7 and h...
The end of World War I, according to some European historians, occurred on May 8, 1945 or V-E Day. A day marking the change of the world’s enemy from Nazi Germany to Communist Russia. Fears of Communism, the totalitarian government of Soviet Russia, were invited through the use of propaganda in the media by the United States government. Illustrating this type of propaganda is the motion picture, The Red Menace released in 1949 by Republic Motion Pictures provides acumens of the fears and concerns on the minds of Americans during a period in America’s history known today as the Cold War.
For this assignment, the movie “The Help” was chosen to review and analyze because it presents a story of fighting injustice through diverse ways. The three main characters of the movie are Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan, a young white woman, Aibileen Clark, and Minny Jackson, two colored maids. Throughout the story, we follow these three women as they are brought together to record colored maids’ stories about their experiences working for the white families of Jackson. The movie explores the social inequalities such as racism and segregation between African Americans and whites during the 1960s in Jackson, Mississippi.
The Battle of Thermopylae began in 480 BC and was a product of the Greeks attempt help defend the Ionians from the Persians. This irritated the Persian Emperor, Xerxes, because he thought of Greece as a small kingdom that had no place revolting against the Persian Empire. The Athenians sympathized with the Ionians because the Persians had also tried to invade Greece on multiple occasions. The Athenians provided feeble help to the Ionians and in retaliation the Persians struck at athens (23B). Xerxes was known to be irrational with his temper, and may have thought of his invasion as retaliation for the fact that his father, Darius the Great, was defeated at the Battle of Marathon against the Greeks. His temper was so great that at Hellas Point he had the water whipped because it would not obey him (E49). One of several Greek war leaders in the Battle of Thermopylae was Leonidas, the second born son of King Anaxandridas. It was not until his half brother was killed under controversial circumstances that Leonidas rose to power (G72). Apart from misconceptions spread by the popular film “300,” the three hundred Spartans did not go into battle alone, and were accompanied by over eight hundred allies. Nevertheless, the Persians still outnumbered the Greeks ten to one, which is why it is incredible that the Greeks were able to hold them for three days before eventually losing that specific battle. Despite losing the battle in terms of soldiers and defending greece, the battle of thermopylae was somewhat successful in that it was a demonstration of the courage of greek soldiers, impressive battle tactics,
Gender and the portrayal of gender roles in a film is an intriguing topic. It is interesting to uncover the way women have been idealized in our films, which mirrors the sentiments of the society of that period in time. Consequently, the thesis of this essay is a feminist approach that seeks to compare and contrast the gender roles of two films. The selected films are A few Good Men and Some Like it Hot.
It's hard for textbooks to say anything nice about the Spartans. one may find that the Spartans described as "an armed camp," "brutal," "culturally stagnant," "economically stagnant," "politically stagnant," and other fun things. The reality, of course, lies somewhere behind the value judgements.
Where do dreams come from? Heaven? From the metaphorical corners of an individual’s heart? Perhaps both or neither, but in Hugo, a character named Georges Méliès opens his arms to his movie set and expresses jubilantly to “look around. This is where they’re made.” Hugo, an action-packed masterpiece directed by the all-time famous Martin Scorsese, truly captures the eminence of film history. With a most intricate plot, this film illustrates the art of movie-making, and further teaches an important life lesson regarding every individual in the existence of humanity. Flawless in all aspects of content, quality of filmmaking, and success in portraying the significant message intended for the viewers, Hugo makes its mark as a legend in the world
One of the greatest responsibilities a woman had in Classical Sparta was giving birth to the Spartan males. Through physical training when a young teen with the Spartan boys, the women needed to be healthy and strong to produce healthy children capable of going through the agoge training. “…By athleticism they made sure that their children would be up to the standard of physical fitness demanded by the Spartan system.” (H.Michell, Sparta). The Spartan mother would prepare the young Spartans prior to the agoge; she would have minimal interaction and supply minimal clothing and
Spartan training started at age 7 and ended at age 18. From birth only the strong were allowed to live. If you were too weak when you were born, you would be thrown off a
“The Mission” is based on a true story that occurred around the borderlands of Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil in the years 1750’s according to the film and history. The Treaty of Madrid of 1750 with the Spanish and Portuguese caused both havoc and death for the people of the Guarini and the members of the Jesuits. The Jesuits, members of the church, tried to bring Christianity and civilization to the natives while keeping at peace with Spain and Portugal. The Jesuits were the teachers for the natives; Teaching them not only the Christian religion but also civilization. Father Gabriel, a Jesuit, is first introduced in the film when he is showing his respects to a former Jesuit priest killed by the natives. He walks through the South American
From what we understand of Sparta, the agoge was the education. They had no daily lessons and most of their education “was directed towards responsiveness to command, endurance in hardship, and victory in battle” (Rhodes, no. 95 = Plutarch, Lycurgus, 16. vii – 17. vi). Spartan citizens wanted to make sure that their sons got beneficial training so “each man [was not] permitted to rear and train his sons as he wished” (Rhodes, no. 95 = Plutarch, Lycurgus, 16. vii – 17. vi). This way all of the male children were trained properly for battle so that they would grow up to be strong soldiers who were able to fight for Sparta. While education in Sparta was quite military in form, Athenian education was “divided into two parts: gymnastics for the body and music for the soul. For the former