Last Stand of the 300: The Legendary Battle at Thermopylae
by David Padrusch
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DVD details
Actor: Erin Bennett, Jeffery A. Baker, Joshua Bradley, Kristopher Blount, Orion BarnesDirector: David Padrusch
Brand: A and E Home Video
Producer: David Padrusch
Writer: David Padrusch
Producer: Alexander Emmert
Writer: Alexander Emmert
Producer: Gabriel Gornell
Producer: Linda Beck
Writer: Matt Koed
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 91 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-07-31
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: A&E Home Video
Product features:
- The legendary battle of Thermopylae is still acknowledged today for its brilliant military maneuvers and the well-trained and fearless soldiers who fought to the death. THE HISTORY CHANNEL® presents a detailed account of this legendary battle, examining the events leading up to the conflict, the tactical expertise that allowed the outnumbered Greeks to stall their mighty foes, and the bloody
DVD Reviews of Last Stand of the 300: The Legendary Battle at Thermopylae
DVD Review: academic inaccuracies and ommissions
Summary: 3 Stars
Coming from both Ancient History (specializing in Greece), and the Military, this was an excellent GENERAL telling of the Persian Wars in brief. It however did not have the authoritative standard that I feel should be produced by the History Channel. Even here there is a fair amount of conjecture, and the fact that the History Channel has managed to get TRUE academics (Paul Cartledge, Arguably THE leading scholar on Ancient Sparta, University of Cambridge) AND (Donald Kagan, Who wrote the definitive 4 volume set on the Peloponnesian Wars, Retired from Yale), both have appeared in commentary on Ancient Battles, especially dealing with Ancient Greece. Makes me a bit concerned.
Some important details left out, are the fact that Pheidippides, prior to the Battle of Marathon RUNS 154 miles to Sparta from Athens to get help. The Greeks and Persians are camped for 4 days before they ensue in combat, and during that time the Persian Cavalry HAD been offloaded from the ships. This production does not even mention Pheidippides going to Sparta, he also runs back, in 2 days; takes part in the Battle of Marathon.
Also the Athenians defeat a small part of the Persian Force as the main body had sailed away, to Piraeus to land and invade from. The entire Athenian Army marches all night the 27 odd miles to arrive prior to the Second Persian landing, which does not happen and they go home. This is gross negligence for academics to ignore this, and it is why I question the use of lesser known people for this particular production.
There were some opinions expressed by scholars here that I did not particularly agree with though. The most important being the comparison of the Spartan Force to Special Forces and Delta Force. Not so. The Spartans are undoubtedly the best fighting force of Ancient Greece at the time, but they are heavy INFANTRY. They are not even close to any kind of special operations unit in the modern sense. So for me this is a nice compliment, and an argument can be made they were the `closest thing' but authoritatively they are nothing like special operations in training or tactics.
They do not discuss any of the battlefield tactics of the land battle of Platea, which I found disappointing. Herodotus has some interesting things to say about it. As to Thermopylae it would have been a nice addition to see some aerial footage of the landscape as it is now, even though it has changed show me the real stuff to give me an actual sense.
In this I actually purchased a very expensive copy of Empires at War [Three Volumes]: A Chronological Encyclopedia. What a let down. Thermopylae is not even in the book, nor is Salamis, Platea or any of the The Peloponnesian War. Yet the volume set is touted as the credibility of the scholar on this special who gets the most airtime, and after seeing it all, I am not convinced he should be considered a subject matter expert of the Persian Wars.
If you have academic background in the field of Ancient History, or are looking for an authoritative account, this only serves as an adequate introductory. It has almost as many accuracy problems as 300. Thermopylae: The Battle That Changed the World appears on the History Channel's Decisive Battles of the Ancient World, for both the Battle of Marathon and Thermopylae, which cover the battles much more effectively, and had they been smart enough to combine that with the production or do a re-shoot, what a difference it would have made.
The Battle of Salamis: The Naval Encounter that Saved Greece -- and Western Civilization (author of Salamis, the battle that saved western civilization, Professor at Cornell) is one of the leading Ancient Naval Warfare scholars. Also featured in the History Channel's Decisive Battles of the Ancient World. Donald Kagan, now in his 80's is featured throughout the same series, I would much rather have seen these scholars used versus a crew of qausi military historians who don't seem to know as much as they should to narrate this type of production.
I did like the use of Steven Pressfield, and recommend his "Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae" novel of Thermopylae. He is an excellent story teller, and did such fantastic research that the Greek city of Sparta, made him an honorary citizen a few years ago. The historical backdrop of his novel is incredibly detailed.
So that is my take. I am about to begin my graduate work in Ancient Greek History, so I feel like I know something about it. There are places where Herodotus is translated in ways that are not entirely agreed on by all scholars, and it is presented as if that is the only translation, I am not convinced that the scholars presented in the production have the language skills to do research in either Ancient Greek or Latin themselves, and it felt far too "American" of a production. I would have loved to see one of the prominent Greek Professors from Greece, and at least a recognizable British Classicist.
Description of Last Stand of the 300: The Legendary Battle at Thermopylae
The legendary battle of Thermopylae is still acknowledged today for its brilliant military maneuvers and the well-trained and fearless soldiers who fought to the death. The History Channel® presents a detailed account of this legendary battle, examining the events leading up to the conflict, the tactical expertise that allowed the outnumbered Greeks to stall their mighty foes, and the bloody encounter itself. Find out how an army of a few hundred men overcame impossible odds and witness the conflict that altered the course of Western civilization.Bestsellers in DVD
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