Perhaps Herodotus had a sympathetic view of Perisa; however, there are dozens of ancient Greek authors who took the view that it was simply a despotism, particularly since religious tolerance was not particularly remarkable until the eras of Christian dominance via Constantinople and under Islam. Moreover, the Spartans and Athenians and other Greeks who were offered the choice to pay fealty or face invasion may perhaps be forgiven for not having taken the view of Persia offered by the author. The movie is, after all, told from the perspective of the Greeks, whose victories here and slightly later quite obviously led to the Golden Era from which Europeans and then Americans self-consciously traced their intellectual origins. If Persia was so great, and I have no doubt at all there were great things about it, perhaps instead of attacking 300 these energetic people could get together and write, produce, film, and distribute a great epic film about the glories of ancient Persia – or Persia of any of its other many important periods. That would probably go further to soften whatever blow 300 is imagined to have dealt, and would also enlighten a public who has little opinion of Iran outside of its current regime, and more generally simply educate us all on a subject that is – if Amazon.com is any indication – actually not treated in a way that’s all that accessible.
The goals of globalization would be much better served, as probably would the interests of security, if instead of rising in righteous anger people would instead channel that competitive spirit into cultural creations, as I fondly and probably wrongly imagine they once did. So c’mon Persians! Your chicks are hot! Let’s see a movie!
