Corrected entry: In the actual battle of the 300 Spartans, Leonidas was killed on the first day.
Corrected entry: When Leonidas visits the wise men and the Oracle at the top of the mountain, one of them mentions that it was August, and that Sparta wouldn't fight in that time of the year. August wasn't so named until 8 B.C after Caesar Augustus. Since this movie is set in 480 B.C., the month of August would not have existed yet.
Corrected entry: When the Persian messenger waits by the large well for the Spartan king to contemplate submission or otherwise, the Spartan king looks at a woman hugging a little girl. The Spartan woman appears to be wearing a modern day cupped bra under her clothing.
Correction: I have seen this scene more than once and I don't see a bra strap or outline of one.
Corrected entry: In the scene with the rhino, the rhino kills three Persians. The first just happens to be in the way, and the second one tries to run away, but the third Persian actually jumps into the front of the rhino just in order to get killed. (01:09:50)
Correction: Which is how a number of people get killed in a stampede. They panic and run right into the path of the animal.
Corrected entry: In the closing scene of 300, where Dilios is looking out across the field, one of the Spartans behind him can be seen breaking ranks to deliberately peek at the camera. This occurs at the moment when Dilios says "sheer terror gripping tight." As if realizing his mistake, he quickly darts back into place.
Correction: Spartans can be seen moving through Dilios' speech, following him, shifting where they stand. Certainly the individual in question is looking towards the camera, but he's also looking towards where Dilios is standing, so it's not unreasonable that he might shift slightly to look at his commander, the renowned storyteller and sole survivor of the legendary 300, before shifting back into place.
Corrected entry: If metallic shields of Spartans are not damaged by forceful strokes of enemy swords and spears, then how can arrows make large holes in them?
Correction: The shields are quite thick and strong. The arrows don't make holes in the shield: they end up embedded in the shield (which requires considerably less force). The swords and spears are also swung with less force and so don't make any noticeable damage.
Corrected entry: In the scene where the Spartans are watching the Persian ships being destroyed during the rain storm, the camera pans in towards Leonidas while the Spartans cheer in the background. There's a man three rows back holding both hands in the air with mouth wide open wearing modern day clothes and headphones around his neck.
Correction: The clothing he's wearing is entirely in line with what you can see some of the Arcadians wearing when the two forces meet up. There are no headphones around his neck - he's simply wearing a high-necked tunic with belts diagonally across his torso.
Corrected entry: When we see the 300 leaving for the Hot Gates, they are carrying their sword, spear and shield. However, once they engage the Persians, all of them have helmets. Where did they come from? Even if there were a few blacksmiths among the Arcadians, where would they get the steel/iron to make helmets?
Correction: They're carrying their helmets, occasionally carried by hand, but mostly attached to their waists, generally on the side where the shield is carried - as such, the shield usually obscures them. There are, however, a number of shots throughout the journey to the Hot Gates where they can be seen.
Corrected entry: On the DVD at 124:29, Leonidas yells for his 'children' to gather round. Nobody moves. At 124:30 He is standing in front of a crowd already assembled.
Correction: Standard cinematic technique of time compression. It's not necessary to show the Spartans moving to surround him - it just wastes screen time.
Corrected entry: The film was shot in only 60 days.
Correction: This is not an unusually short length of time for a film and therefore is not particularly notable.
Corrected entry: Leonidas gets a cut that runs from above his left eye, all the way down to past his cheekbone during his battle with the Uber Immortal. During many shots of Leonidas you can see that the cut is on his lower eyelid, yet when they show him at the end of the movie (the shot before he takes his helmet off) he just has the scratch above his eye. You can see at least 1/2 of an inch below his eye, but there's no sign of a scratch. When Leonidas takes his helmet off, the scratch is there beneath his eye and goes all the way up to his eye.
Correction: I've watched the movie several times, and if you watch closely when the über Immortal delivers the blow to Leonidus' face, you can see that it starts breaking his helmet first and doesn't actually touch his skin until about 1/2 way down. Thus, creating a physically smaller scar on his face and longer on the helmet itself.
Corrected entry: In the first battle scene, Leonidas uses throws his spear and it sails through the air. It hits a Persian in the chest and he falls, and the guy right next to him falls at the exact same instant, but there is nothing making the other guy fall, since the spear only hit one Persian.
Correction: The Persian that got hit by the spear fell down and grabbed the other Persian while falling. No mistake here, no one said that both men died from one spear.
Corrected entry: The Persians are shown as revering their emperor as a "god-king". Not true - they were known for being monotheistic (believing in one god) which meant that they did not see kings as gods at all. It was the Greeks who were polytheistic (believing in many gods).
Correction: False. This is one part of the movie that was taken right out of the history books. Just read a little bit about Xerxes and you'll see. Also, even if it wasn't true about him, this movie is NOT a factual movie, Frank could have just taken artistic liscense, which wouldn't be a mistake at all.
Corrected entry: In this movie, Xerxes is told to have employed war elephants against the Spartans. The Greek - along with the Macedonians - actually never encounter elephants until the Battle of Gaugamela, in 331 BC - 149 years later.
Corrected entry: In the scene where Leonidas speaks to Xerxes, it is obvious that the actor playing Xerxes is looking clear over Leonidas' head, rather than back at his face - no doubt a side effect of the special effects process of making Xerxes 8 feet tall in post-production.
Correction: Xerxes thinks he is a god and is superior to everyone. Xerxes was not looking Leonidas in the eye initially because a god-king does not look at an inferior.
Corrected entry: When the Spartans are watching the Persian ships being destroyed by the wind/waves you see Leonidas holding his shield up to protect himself from the rain. The rain is blowing toward him from his left as though driven by the wind, but his cape is not moving. The "rain" is sprayed on an angle not pushed by wind.
Correction: The capes are made of very heavy fabric. Once wet, that amount of wind couldn't move them.
Corrected entry: When the bald headed leader of the other army is about to leave the Spartans you can see the circular scar on his arm from the old polio type shots.
Correction: Vaccination scars have been submitted and corrected many times already. It's not unlikely for a warrior to have a scar on his arm.
Corrected entry: At one point of the movie, a Spartan complains about Persians using arrows, as it's quite cowardly to kill your opponent from a distance. Yet, before the first big battle a Persian asks the Spartans to lay down their weapons, only to be killed by a spear thrown at him. Are Spartans applying double standards here?
Correction: A spear can't be thrown from as far as arrows can. You are still somewhat "face-to-face" with your opponent, whereas arrows can be sent from a cover. No double-standard there.
Corrected entry: Leonidas boots the Persian emissary into what appears to be a huge well - has he just poisoned his own city's water supply?
Correction: I highly doubt that the king was that stupid, or that there would be a huge open well in the middle of the city. There was nothing on, or around the hole that would lead anyone to believe that it was a well for drinking water (no mechanisim to lower and raise buckets, plus I've never seen a well that huge). More than likely it was some sort of garbage dump.
Corrected entry: At one point in the film someone (Theron, I believe) says that Leonidas might go to jail for breaking Spartan law. Jail did not exist at this time, nor did anything similar to it. Spartans didn't lock up their criminals.
Correction: Not true, according to Wikipedia and numerous other sources, in approximately 491 BC Cleomenes I was was imprisoned in Sparta, in fact by his half-brother Leonidas.
Correction: According to Heradotus, who provides the only detailed account of the battle, Leonidas was not slain until the third and final day of the battle, although he did fall prior to the final showers of arrows that put an end to the Spartan force.
Tailkinker ★