300

Both the graphic and film “300” as depicted by writer/artist Frank Miller seems to have took considerable liberties in its portrayal of history. The physical appearance of the Persians in the film and novel do not to seem to closely resemble the way they do in their own art, though their behavior and values do not seem to be far off at first glance.

Xerxes depiction in the graphic novel and the film depicts him as a tall, bald and clean-shaven man who has several piercings and is mostly naked if not for his jewelry also acting as undergarments and boots. In one of the reliefs on the Apadana that depict both Xerxes and his father Darius, he is shown to wear a robe, a fez for a crown and curly hair along with a long, curly beard that reaches up to his chest.  Those two depictions do not look remotely alike and there does not to be evidence in ancient Persian art as to why Frank Miller chose to depict Xerxes in such a fashion.

The costumes of Xerxes subjects and warriors do not align with what little we have seen with the Persian art of this period.

The most accurate aspect of the film and novel is that Persians were conquerors, and the messenger and Xerxes seem to feel entitled to the “earth and water” of Greece. Near the climax of the story, Xerxes tries to form an alliance with Leonidas, though one where the Greeks would be under his empire but still rich and powerful. When Leonidas turns him down, Xerxes claims to be both “generous and wrathful.” That’s accurate because the Persians would act as gracious rulers and let conquered people retain their culture, but their art and whatever history we have

The most inaccurate thing about the film and novel is that the Persians appear to have creatures amongst their ranks such as rhinos, elephants, a large obese man with crab-like claws and hooves for feet and  tall goblin like warrior – none of which appear to be depicted in the art in the lectures and in the text book.