In honor of the opening of 300 on Friday night, and the Grand Opening of the new theater (free drinks and popcorn!) in Valley River Center, I thought I would give a sample of some of the primary source references employed by the movie involving the accounts of the Battle of Thermopylae ("warm gates") in 480 BC recorded within the histories of Herodotus.
"Of all the Spartans and Thespians who fought so valiantly, it is said the best man (who provided an example of courage), was the Spartan Dieneces. It is said that before the battle he was told...when the Persians (Medes) fire their arrows, there were so many of them they hid the sun...
(I tried to enter the Greek here but the blogsite wouldn't support it.)
... in his contempt for the multitude of Persians said,'that this is good news the stranger from Trachis announces to us: if the Persians hide the sun, we shall fight the battle under the shade, and not in the sun.'" - (Herodotus, 7.226.1-2)
My Greek translation is getting consistently better, as you can see. However, it is extremely difficult to express the elegance and nuance of Greek utilizing modern English. Some things simply do not translate properly. Although this movie will be shot in an over-the-top mythological and visually unique style (akin to Frank Miller's Sin City), it is good that some primary references are included. It will be interesting to see how the script and imagery incorporates Herodotus.
In the trailer for 300, I found it amusing that they also lifted this line from Conan the Barbarian - "few stood against many" which is related to this personal rendition of a classic Conan prayer. "Crom, I seldom pray to you I have no tongue for it, not even you, will know (remember), if we were good men or bad, why we fought or why we died, know that few stood against many, that's what is important. Valor pleases you Crom, so grant me one request, grant me revenge, and if you do not listen, then to hell with you!"
4 comments:
Reviews be DAMNED! I want free popcorn and pop all wrapped up in a fancy new theater.
Hopefully, it will all be good, and decent seats can be secured. The movie is supposed to be pretty visually impressive. I'm just unhappy I couldn't get the blogsite to load up the Greek from Herodotus. Maybe kungfuramone could figure it out for me?
That you couldn't upload Greek is totally language prejudice. You'll note that Esperanza was able to enter the Chinese words to the "East is Red" in her blog. That is because there is money to be gained in making computer programs amenable to Chinese script, alas, not to ancient Greek.
As for 300, I'm rooting for the Persians!
I think I finally really understand why you went into classics. :) Enjoy your movie!
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