22 March 2007

Once more into the breach - '300'

My favorite classical historian has written an assessment of the historical reality behind '300.' He doesn't attempt to rehabilitate the Spartans specifically, but the wisdom of portraying the Greeks in general as 'good' while the Persians are 'bad.' Does a good job of it too.

Such openness was found nowhere else in the ancient Mediterranean world. That
freedom of expression explains why we rightly consider the ancient Greeks as the founders of our present Western civilization — and, as millions of moviegoers seem to sense, far more like us than the enemy who ultimately failed to conquer them.


True. Though a major component of our civilization is actually Christianity, based on the sacred writings of enthusiastic members of the Persian Empire. Just pick you role-model and have at it.


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1 Comments:

At 23 March, 2007 00:01, Blogger jack perry said...

Did you see the James Robbins piece on 300 a few days ago? It struck me as a thoughtful critique of exactly this argument of Hanson's.

I thought today that the best news about this film is that people are thinking about the ancient Greeks and their influence on us once again.

 

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