The Movie '300'

Saw 300 last night - the story is loosely based around the Battle of Thermopylae fought in 480 BC. The movie was adapted from the Frank Miller (of Sin City fame) graphic novel of the same name.

While I partook with zest in the movie's escapism I couldn't help but notice the numerous historical inaccuracies and oversights.

Here are a few:

1. In the film the Spartans are shown fighting without armour. They certainly were brave but not reckless. Armour was critical to the Spartan success.

2. Xerxes is portrayed as a loin clothed narcisist who would be more comfortable in a gay pride parade than anything else. This does not agree with the historical Xerxes who although imbued with power was very much a conventional Persian ruler.

3. King Leonidas injures Xerxes with his well thrust spear. A great touch (no pun) but more again for the imagination.

4. The Spartans are depicted as the principal Greek combatants at the battle. Not true. While the 300 Spartans were the elite force amongst the Greeks. They were joined by over 6000 other Greek forces who are believed to have fought valiantly as well. (See Herodotus the Histories as well as Pausanius 10,20,2).

5. Ephialtes the betrayer is shown as a hunchback. Great for the special effects crew but again more historical creativity than fact.

6. The bus load of ogres and monsters attacking the Spartans - Another metaphor personified.

7. The Spartans are shown abhoring homosexuallity and charging the Athenians with such behaviour. This runs contrary to historical records where the Spartans were renowned for their love and tolerance of male-on-male sexuality.


This is what should have been added to the movie

1. A bit more on the Persian Wars - how did it begin? The rebellion of the Ionian Greeks. The Athenian victory at Marathon etc.

2. The significance of Thermopylae - it bought the Greeks (mainly Athens) valuable time to assemble a fleet that defeated the Persians at Salamis (the real turning point in the war)

3. The fact that only a small fraction of Spartan society was free. I have read of estimates that 90% of those living in Sparta were helots. So representing Sparta as a symbol freedom (as the movie did) was another stretch.

Nevertheless Thermopylae represents one of the great battles of the Ancient War and Miller's attempt at describing the events should be commended. I thoroughly enjoyed the sound track and the battle scenes (which seemed to contain an unusual amount of decapitations) were first rate.

Overall Ranking: 7.5/10

My Opinion: Top 100 Englishmen/women

1. Isaac Newton - Physicist and Mathematician.
2. Charles Darwin - Biologist.
3. Joseph Lister - Medical Doctor. Father of antiseptics.
4. William Shakespeare - Playwright and Poet.
5. Edward Jenner - Doctor. Father of Immunology.
6. Elizabeth I - English Virgin queen.
7. George Stephenson - Inventor/Railway Engineer. Built the Rocket.
8. Charles Babbage - Early Computer pioneer.
9. Francis Crick - Physicist. Co-responsible for unraveling double helix structure of DNA.
10. Michael Faraday - Physicist/Inventor responsible for understanding of Electromagnetic Induction.
11. Winston Churchill - British Prime Minister, War Time leader, orator and historian.
12. John Locke - Empiricist Philosopher.
13. Alfred the Great - Saxon king who defeated the Vikings.
14. Francis Bacon - Philosopher, lawyer and writer.
15. William Wilberforce - Anti-slavery crusader.
16. Geoffery Chaucer - Diplomat and author.
17. William Harvey - Doctor. Analyzed the circulation system.
18. Anthony Ashley Cooper 7th Earl of Shaftesbury - Anti-child labour crusader.
19. Henry VIII - English King. Initiated the founding of the Church of England.
20. Queen Victoria - Queen during the height of British power.
21. John Stuart Mill - Philosopher and champion of liberty.
22. John I - English king who signed the Magna Carta.
23. Mary Wollstonecraft - Philosopher/writer. Champion of women's rights.
24. John Wycliffe - Early church reformer. Translated the bible in to English.
25. Thomas Hobbes - Philosopher and critic of society.
26. Edward Coke - Prominent figure in the development of English Common Law.
27. Walter Raleigh - Explorer/Historian. Helped set up Early colonies in North America.
28. James Cook - Explorer and long term voyager.
29. Charles Dickens - Author.
30. Emmeline Pankhurst - Suffragette.
31. Thomas More - Religious figure, writer and philosopher.
32. Elizabeth Fry - Prison reformer.
33. Horatio Nelson - Navy Admiral. Battle Hero.
34. William Caxton - First English Printer.
35. John Maynard Keynes - Economist - championed government intervention.
36. William the Conqueror - King, military leader and administrator. Last person to conqueror England (Really French Norman)
37. Duke of Marlborough - General.
38. Oliver Cromwell - Military leader and Politician.
39. Francis Drake - Naval leader and pirate.
40. Thomas Paine - Philosopher and writer.
41. The Beatles - Greatest Pop Group ever.
42. John Harrison - Inventor. Built device to calculate longitude.
43. Alexander Pope - Philosopher/writer.
44. Bertrand Russell - Philosopher/mathematician and pacifist.
45. Henry Cavendish - Physicist/Chemist. Measured Universal Gravitation Constant (G)
46. Jeremy Bentham - Utilitarian philosopher.
47. Roger Bacon - Early scientist.
48. Alan Turing - Code breaker and Thinking Machine designer.
49. John Dalton - Chemist.
50. Edward I - English king/Military figure.
51. Robert Walpole - First English Prime Minister.
52. Richard the Lionheart - King and Crusader.
53. William Gladstone - Four time Prime Minister.
54. Frank Whittle - Jet Engine inventor.
55. Boadicea - Ancient Queen. Led rebellion against Romans.
56. Christopher Wren - Architect. Rebuilt London after Great Fire.
57. Paul Dirac - Physicist. Renowned for work in Quantum Mechanics.
58. Richard Trevithick - Engineer/Inventor. Built steam carriage.
59. Wat Tyler - Peasant rebellion leader.
60. Benjamin Disraeli - Prime Minister. Bought the Suez Canal for Britain.
61. Thomas a Becket - Archbishop of Canterbury. Opponent of Henry II..
62. James Brindley - Blind Industrial Revolution road engineer and canal builder.
63. Frederick Sanger - Chemist, Two time Nobel Prize winner.
64. Thomas Young - Physicist. Known for work in Optics (Interference/Diffraction)
65. William Gilbert - Physicist/Physician. Spoke about the magnetic nature of the Earth.
66. Isambard Kingdom Brunel - Engineer and ship builder.
67. Florence Nightingale - Mother of the Nursing Profession.
68. Robert Clive - English soldier. Conqueror of India.
69. Ronald Ross - Physician. Discovered malaria parasite.
70. Thomas Malthus - Philosopher/Population Scientist.
71. Stephen Hawking - Physicist/popular chronicler of cosmology.
72. George III - English King ruled for 60 years. Including the periods of the American and French Revolutions.
73. James Hargreaves - Inventor of the Spinning Jenny. Revolutionized textile industry.
74. Jane Austen - Author.
75. John Speke - Explorer. Famous for discoveries in Africa.
76. Edward Gibbon - Historian of the Roman Empire.
77. Francis Walsingham - Politician and Elizabethan back room figure. Founder of Secret Service.
78. Thomas Cranmer - Protestant martyr. Archbishop of Canterbury.
79. Hugh Latimer/Nicholas Ridley - Protestant martyrs.
80. Robert Blake - English Naval leader.
81. Thomas Newcomen - Steam Engine developer.
82. Robert Hooke - Physicist/Chemist. Known for work on elasticity.
83. Henry II - English king whose powers extended extensively into France.
84. John Ray - Naturalist.
85. Henry Hudson - Explorer of North America.
86. Neville Barnes Wallis - Inventor of Bouncing bomb used in Dambuster raid.
87.Margaret Thatcher - British Prime Minister and Privatization advocate.
88. Mary I - Catholic Queen. Bloody Mary.
89. Henry V - English king. Victor at the Battle of Agincourt.
90. Howard Carter - Discoverer of 'Tut's' tomb.
91. Alfred Hitchcock - Movie Director/writer.
92. Edmond Halley - Astronomer. Influenced Newton to write Principia.
93. William Dampier - Explorer of Oceanic region.
94. Henry I - English king in Early Norman occupation. A literate monarch.
95. Jethro Tull - Agricultural Inventor.
96. James Jeans - Astronomer/Cosmologist.
97. Ernest Shackleton - Antarctica explorer.
98. Joseph John Thomson - Physicist. Known for his work with electrons.
99. Arthur Evans - Archaeologist.
100. William Blake - Poet and Artist.

40 Greatest Western Explorers

1. Lief Ericson - discovered North America
2. Christopher Columbus - discovered West Indies
3. Vasco da Gama - visited India after rounding Africa
4. Marco Polo - reached China
5. James Cook - Crossed Antarctic circle. Visited New Zealand
6. Ferdinand Magellan/Juan Sebastian del Cano - first to Circumnavigate the globe
7. Walter Raleigh - Visited North America. Drew up plans for 13 colonies
8. Abel Tasmin - Visited Australia
9. David Livingstone - Discovered Victoria Falls and Zambezi River
10. John Cabot - reached Newfoundland
11. Robert Peary - First to reach North Pole
12. Vasco Balboa - discovered Pacific Ocean
13. John Speke - discovered Lake Tanganyika and Lake Victoria
14. Roald Amundsen - First to reach South Pole
15. Meriwether Lewis and William Clark - Explored American Interior
16. Bartholmew Diaz - Sailed around Cape of Good Hope
17. Eric the Red - Viking explorer who visited Greenland
18. Jacques Cartier - explored St Lawrence River
19. Robert Burke and William Wills - explored Australian Interior
20. Ernest Shackleton - explored Antarctica
21. Henry Stanley - traced the Congo River
22. Richard Burton - discovered Lake Tanganyika
23. Francis Younghusband - Explorer. Opened up Tibet to the Western World.
24. Henry Hudson - discovered Hudson's Bay
25. Simon Champlain - explored Canadian interior
26. Vitus Bering - discovered Alaska
27. Fabian von Bellinghausen - circumnavigated Antarctica
28. Mungo Park - explored the Niger River
29. Hernando de Soto - discovered the Mississippi River
30. Ponce De Leon - discovered Florida
31. Alexander Mackenzie - discovered Mackenzie River
32. Nathaniel Palmer - sighted Antarctica
33. Amerigo Verspucci - explored Venezuela.
34. Edmund Hillary - Together with the Sherpa Tenzing Norgay was the first to climb Mount Everest. Was involved as well in expedition that crossed Antarctica for the first time.
35. Robert Falcon Scott - explored the Antarctic
36.Heinrich Barth - explored Sudan
37. John Fremont - Crossed Rocky Mountains to California
38. William Baffin - Explorer. Penetrated to within 800 miles of the North Pole. Closest for 250 years.
39. Semyon Dezhnev - Cossack Explorer. Sailed around eastern part of Asia in 17th century.
40. St Francis Xavier - visited Japan

The American Civil War

25 Most Important Events of the American Civil War and its Lead up (not in chronological order but in order of Importance - most to least)

1. The Slave trade in the American Colonies
2. Emancipation Proclamation
3. Establishment of the Mason-Dixon Line
4. Dredd-Scott Decision
5. Creation of the Underground Railroad
6. Abraham Lincoln becomes President
7. Publication of Harriet Beecher Stowe's 'Uncle Tom's Cabin'
8. Battle of Gettysburg and the subsequent Gettysburg Address
9. The Missouri Compromise
10. The Fighting in Bloody Kansas
11. Abraham Lincoln versus Frederick Douglas Debates
12. The Wilmot Proviso
13. Secession of South Carolina
14. Formation of the Confederacy (11 states)
15. Attack on Fort Sumter by Confederate Troops
16.Bloody Battle of Antietam ends in stalemate
17. Robert E. Lee is placed in command of Virginian Army
18. Sherman's march to the coast. Includes the Burning of Atlanta
19. Union boycott of Southern shipping
20. Grant is appointed Union Army chief
21. Victory for the Union at Vicksburg
22. Southern Victories at the Battles of Bull Run, Chancellorville and Fredericksburg
23. Surrender of Robert E. Lee's forces at Appomattox
24. Anti-slavery activist Jim Brown attacks Harper's Ferry
25. Death of Southern general Stonewall Jackson

The European Dark Ages Quiz

1. When was Charlemagne crowned Holy Roman Emperor?
2. What is the common name for Charlemagne’s Dynasty?
3. Which city was Charlemagne’s capital?
4. Which of the following people were not an enemy of Charlemagne: Muslims (in Spain), Lombards, Saxons or the Vandals?
5. Who was Charlemagne’s father?
6. In which battle did his ancestor Charles Martel defeat the Muslims?
7. Who was Charlemagne’s successor?
8. Which treaty ended the war between his grandsons?
9. What developed at Cluny?
10. Which grandson of Charlemagne would become King of France proper?
11. Which two other grandsons were his chief rivals?
12. What was the name of the First Norse leader to set up a colony in Normandy?
13. Who was the first Saxon King of Rome?
14. Into what four regions was England divided into c.850 AD?
15. Which English King set up the Royal Navy?

Answers to European Dark Ages

1. 800 AD.
2. Carolingian
3. Aachen (Aix-La Chapelle).
4. Vandals
5. Pepin the Short.
6. Poitiers (Tours).
7. Louis I the Pious.
8. The Treaty of Verdun.
9. A monestery that would eventually give rise to the Clunician order.
10. Charles the Bald.
11. Lothair and Louis the German.
12. Rollo
13. Egbert
14. Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia and Wessex.
15. Alfred the Great.

24 Topics on Ancient Egypt

For Teachers - These are 24 topics that should be looked at when facilitating student learning in this area.

The Unification of Upper and Lower Egypt by Menes
The Development of Egyptian mythology and its relationship to Egyptian history.
The Birth of the Old Kingdom with the 3rd Dynasty
The Step Pyramids
The Fourth Dynasty and the Great Pyramids
The Development of Hieroglyphics
The Collapse of the Old Kingdom and the First Intermediate Period
The Middle Kingdom
The Hyksos Invasion Wars. The Second Intermediate Period.
The Birth of the New Kingdom and Egyptian Science
The Concept of the Ma’at and the Nomarch substructure
The Reign of Akhenaton and Nefertiti
The Restoration of the Old Order and the defeat of Monotheism
The Reign of Hatshepsut
Ramses II and the Expansion of Empire
Battles of Medigo and Kadesh
The Fall of the New Kingdom and the Libyan Invasions
The Nubian Invasions
The Conquest by Assyria and Babylon
The Conquest by Persia
The Arrival of Alexander the Great and the building of Alexandria
The Ptolemaic Dynasty
Cleopatra and the Rise of Rome

Leadership Nationalities Quiz

Which countries were the following individuals leaders of ?

1. Begum Khaleda Zia.
2. Sitiveni Rabuka.
3. Vincent Auriol.
4. Urho Kaleva Kekkonen.
5. Jelle Ziljasta.
6. Canaan Sodindo Banana.
7. Antonio Agostinho Neto.
8. Wilfried Martens.
9. Joe Clark.
10. Albert Reynolds.
11. Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd.
12. Milan Kucan.
13. Michael Norman Manley.
14. Todor Zhivkov.
15. Abdus Salaam Mohammed Arif.

Answers

1. Bangladesh
2. Fiji
3. France
4. Finland
5. The Nertherlands
6. Zimbabwe
7. Angola
8. Belgium
9. Canada
10. Ireland
11. South Africa
12. Slovenia
13. Jamaica
14. Bulgaria
15. Iraq