The lie of the movie ‘300’ about the Spartans

The mythical movie ‘300’, based on the comic by Frank Miller and with Gerard Butler as the protagonist, did not fit the reality of the Spartans one hundred percent…

300, the legendary film starring Gerard Butler and Rodrigo Santoro, among others, is already a classic for fans of fitness and historical cinema. First because of the physique of its protagonists, with an overdose of abs, and then because of how it portrays the training and fighting regimen of the Spartans.

Adapted from the famous Frank Miller comic of the same name, the film does not fully respect what life was like in classical Sparta, in fact, it even softens it and the story it tells is hard and bloody. Remember ‘300’ here: all the secrets of Spartan training.

This was revealed by Frank Miller himself in an interview, in which he talks about the rite that young Spartans had to overcome to become warriors.

The journalist asks him: Was killing a wolf a rite of passage for the Spartans?” “No,” Miller answers. “It was even more cruel. The true rite of passage for a Spartan boy was to sneak out and kill a slave, not kill a wolf. And he was severely punished if he was discovered.

And be careful because the punishment was not for murdering another human being, but for being caught, since the Spartan warrior was supposed to train in the art of concealment and evasion,” he explains. How are you doing? Telita …

Spartans, avoiding death since childhood

Becoming a Spartan soldier was a continuous struggle to overcome obstacles. “Only the strong and the strong are worthy of being called Spartans… only the strong… only the strong,” Leonidas says at one point in the film.

And Sparta implemented strict eugenics with the sole objective of achieving healthy and strong citizens.

According to the historian Plutarch, as soon as he was born, the child was examined by a commission of elders to determine if he was of robust constitution.

Otherwise he would be taken to a ravine at the foot of Taygetus, where he would be thrown or abandoned. If the child passed the test, he was entrusted to his family for upbringing.