This Is Sparta!

Abstract

300 (Snyder, 2007) highlights the relationship between the idealised, heroised white male body and the ‘alien’, antagonistic non-white body. Sparta as embodied by King Leonidas stands for freedom, democracy, reason and justice; Persia, in the form of King Xerxes, opposes and negates these positive qualities. As several scholars have commented, this depiction of Sparta is problematic with regard to historical record. Often portrayed as the valiant underdog in the struggle against imperialist Persia, Sparta was a militaristic state based upon a rigid class system, with an equally inflexible xenophobic outlook (cf. Schmalfuss, 2010, p. 211). Paul Cartledge states that Sparta was dependent on a systematic exploitation of a native Greek underclass, the Helots, which amounted to virtual slavery (Cartiedge, 2006, p. 12). Adolf Hitler cited Sparta as a model state, and inspiration, for Nazi Germany, not least in its willingness to commit mass murder on racial grounds (Kiernan, 2007, p. 27). Tom Holland notes how the Spartan warriors who fought at Thermopylae ‘were regarded by Hitler as representatives of a true master-race, one bred and raised for war’ (Holland, 2005, p. xix). Reviewing 300 for Time Out, critic Trevor Johnston posed the question: ‘Any ideological connotations to the fact we’re supposed to be cheering on the white guys as they scythe their way through turban-wearing Persian hordes?’ (Johnston, 2007).