the 300 was a buttload of fun. even more fun knowing that it was pretty much all historically accurate, at least as the history channel tells me.
quotes from
PBS• A Sybarite, who ate at a public mess, once remarked: "Now I know why the Spartans do not fear death."
• Asked what was the greatest benefit Lycurgus conferred on his countryman, King Agesilaus replied "Contempt of pleasure."
• Asked why it was dishonorable to return without a shield and not without a helmet, the Spartan king, Demaratos (510 - 491) is said to have replied: "Because the latter they put on for their own protection, but the shield for the common good of all." (Plutarch, Mor.220)
• An old man wandering around the Olympic Games looking for a seat was jeered at by the crowd until he reached the seats of the Spartans, whereupon every Spartan younger than him, and some that were older, stood up and offered him their seat. The crowd applauded and the old man turned to them with a sigh, saying "All Greeks know what is right, but only the Spartans do it."
here are quotes that have been passed down by Herodotus:
• in 507 BC Darius the Great symbolically asks for "earth and water" from the Greek city-states as a token of their submission to Persian rule. The Athenians kill their heralds and the Spartans throw them into a well, saying "DIG IT OUT FOR YOURSELVES".
• at the battle of Thermopylae Xerxes I asks him to surrender his arms. Leonidas retorts "COME AND GET THEM" (MOLON LABE).
• the Persians threaten to shoot so many arrows that they will "blot out the sun". Dienekes replies "SO MUCH THE BETTER WE SHALL FIGHT IN THE SHADE".
and these are fun quotes from the movie:
• Stelios: What the hell are you laughing at?
Astinos: You had to say it!
Stelios: What?
Astinos: Fight in the shade!
• Agathon: Leonidas! The barbarians have sent an emissary to talk with you. It is Hydarnes himself.
Leonidas: Hydarnes? Good, get me a clean cloak.
Agathon: How many men do you want for an escort?
Leonidas: When has a Spartan king needed an escort to talk to a mere Persian?
• Stelios: It is an honor to die at your side.
Leonidas: It is an honor to have lived at yours.
• Theron: It is the law, my lord. The Spartan army must not go to war.
Leonidas: And nor shall we. I've said no such order. I'm here, just taking a stroll, stretching my legs. Those are my 300 personal bodyguards.
• Messenger: Who does this woman think she is that she can speak among men?
Gorgo: Only Spartan women give birth to real men.
• Leonidas: Submission? Well that's gonna be a bit of a problem. See, rumor has it that the Athenians have already refused you, and if those philosophers and boy-lovers have found that kind of nerve...and of course Spartans have their reputations to consider.
• Xerxes: Yours is a fascinating tribe... defiant even in the face of annihilation. There is much our cultures could share.
Leonidas: Perhaps you haven't noticed, but we've been sharing our culture with you all morning.
• Captain: They look thirsty!
Leonidas: Well let's give them something to drink! To the cliffs!
• Gorgo: Spartan. Come back with your shield... or on it.
Leonidas: Yes milady.
• Leonidas: Dilios, I trust that scratch hasn't made you useless.
Dilios: Hardly, my lord, it's just an eye. The gods saw fit to grace me with a spare.
• Xerxes: Your Athenian rivals will kneel at your feet... if you but kneel at mine.
Leonidas: That is quite an offer. Only a mad man would refuse it. But this kneeling business... I'm afraid killing all those slaves of yours has left me with a nasty cramp in my leg.
• Xerxes: Consider the fate of your women.
Leonidas: Clearly you don't know our women. I might as well have marched them up here judging by what I've seen.
• MADNESS? THIS IS SPARTA!!!
