I think you’ve just gone to the other extreme. You’ve written an apologetic for a king and his invasion, by saying how great the father and the grandfather was. I think you’ve lost sight of the fact that empires don’t become empires just by sitting around letting cities willingly join them or not. The bare fact does remain the Persians tried to conquer the Greeks. Saying that Greeks themselves are responsible for the invasion against them is a little too close to saying rape victims invite their own assault. Greeks in the empire convinced the king? Alright, well how did THOSE Greeks become part of the empire? Peacefully and free of compulsion? I’m betting the answer is no. The decision was still the king’s, right? Who cares if he allows people to live as they want, after they kneel to him? That’s actually kind of the whole theme of the “300″ movie.
I realize the movie is absolutely ridiculous in its portrayal, but don’t fall into the same trap when opposing it.
I’m sure the Persian Empire made great contributions to human civilation along the same veins as the Roman, Chinese, Egyptian and so forth.
