In the history books there have been many great storys of battle, but there is one that stands out. The Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC where the greeks defended against the persian invasion has something very special about it, something amazingly heroic. Historians can't seem to agree upon exactly how many soldiers the persian king Xerxes had under his command, it varies between 200,000 and 5 million...but the number of greeks that stood their ground to slow down the invasion is well known. 300 from the city of Sparta, 700 from the city of Thespiae and 6000 other greek allies, all led by Leonidas, the king of Sparta.
They took position in a narrow mountain pass, where the persians had to come through. Because of the excellent choice of terrain, the persians could not surround or flank the greeks and suffered heavy losses during the first two days, the greek side had very few men killed. This could have continued for weeks if the greeks had not been betrayed. Someone told the persians about a path to get around the mountain pass.
When Leonidas found out, he knew it was futile to keep fighting and ordered his army to retreat. However, he and the surviving spartan and thespian soldiers stayed so the rest could escape. They were surrounded but did not surrender, they kept fighting until the end. This last stand is one of the most famous battles, and has been the subject of many books.
It was made into a graphic novel called "300" by Frank Miller, the man behind Sin City.
And just like Sin City, "300" has now become a movie, and it's going to make all other movies look shit.
It's coming out next year (march 9th, 2007) but here are two trailers and a website to check out until it's released:
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