Corrected entry: In the opening scene we see how Leonidas, as a baby, is being examined at a cliff. Now this makes no sense, as you would only go to the cliff to ditch a baby and not to examine it there.
Corrected entry: During the scene where king Leonidas has his conversation with the hunchback Ephialtes, he explains to him the importance of the phalanx in the Spartan battle tactics and how their entire strategy revolves around the hoplite "shield wall" (and this is why Ephialtes, who can't raise his shield high enough, can't fight with them). Yet in numerous scenes throughout the movie, the Spartans, and Leonidas in particular, are shown casually leaving the phalanx formation to go on a personal killing spree, completely exposed. The Arcadians show a similarly lax attitude with their phalanx formation. This is a deliberate mistake as otherwise it would be impossible to showcase the elaborate "bullet-time" combat scenes, because the phalanx would restrict both their movement and our view. Nevertheless, it makes no sense to play up the phalanx to such a (ultimately fatal) degree, and then simply disregard it for the sake of showing off.
Correction: The phalanx was STILL a very important part of the battle. If there would have been one weak link during the first onslaught of Persians, the whole line would have been compromised and the Spartans would have failed.
Corrected entry: I found it curious how none of the Greek hoplites in this movie wear any armor (besides their shields and helmets). The Greek hoplites were famous for being particularly heavily armored, and the Spartans were better (and more uniformly) equipped than most as they were dedicated soldiers and not mere militia. Instead, they all have bare chests to show off their masculine figures and well developed torsos, even when such a lack of protection for the torso and abdomen would be a serious disadvantage in that kind of intense close combat.
Corrected entry: In the scene where there are three scouts surveying the persian troops, there are a series of close-ups between one of the Spartans and the 'Arcadian.' Every time the camera cuts to an individual close-up of the Arcadian, there is an obvious vaccination scar on his upper arm.
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: In the first battle, we see three layers: 1: Leonidas, 2: Spartan Soldier, 3: Mountain/Hill/Rocks. At the end of the scene, where it switches from normal to slow motion back and forth. If you concentrate at the last hit, Leonidas strikes a Persian with his shield, and so does the Spartan Soldier in the 2nd Layer. When the Spartan Soldier strikes the soldier, he falls to the ground. He (the Persian) then starts moving his sword to swing at the Spartan. While this occurs, the Spartan also starts moving to stab the Persian with his spear. There is a great synchronized movement, BUT at the end of this part the Persian soldier backs out on his sword swing even before the Spartan's spear touches his body.
Corrected entry: Are we to believe that the Persians who had more than 1,000,000 men had 30 scouts which were killed and used to build the wall and no more? And if that's not the case and they had hundreds of thousands of scouts why the heck didn't they find the goat path or go some other way like maybe not where the 300 Spartans were. (Yes the king wanted them dead but the idea of going around and surrounding is common knowledge to anyone).
Correction: Not only are we supposed to believe it, this is what actually happened at Thermopylae. The wall was rebuilt (though not necessarily with dead bodies), and the Persians did not find the goat path until Ephialtes showed it to them after three days of fighting. It is a piece of history, recorded by several well-known sources.
Corrected entry: At the beginning of the movie, when they are inspecting the "newborn" baby to determine his worthiness, the baby is at least several weeks old (the umbilical cord is gone and the navel is healed).
Correction: It would still be considered a "newborn" baby if it was a few weeks old. And it stands to reason that the Spartans would wait a while before giving a healthy-looking baby its final inspection, as it might take a while for signs of weakness or sickness to be obvious.
Corrected entry: In the last battle scene, Leonidas tells Xerxes that he has 300 hundred soldiers behind him. when in fact many of the Spartans were killed by the first wave of immortals and various other Persians.
Corrected entry: When the giant obese "executioner" decapitates the warrior, the head flies straight up into the air, even though the blow was delivered from above, and would realistically make the head fly downwards.
Correction: Not really. Because of the tension in the muscles of the neck, the head can actually go upwards when decapitation occurs. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction, and when the neck is suddenly pushed downward from the blade, the muscles have a momentary rebound, which can cause the head to go up, instead of down.
Corrected entry: Leonidas is fighting the wolf and the narrator says the wolf has black claws of steel. Steel wasn't invented till the 13th century. This was set in about 480BC.
Correction: Not remotely accurate: "Steel was known in antiquity and was produced in bloomeries and crucibles. The earliest known production of steel is seen in pieces of ironware excavated from an archaeological site in Anatolia (Kaman-Kalehöyük) and are nearly 4,000 years old, dating from 1800 BC."
Correction: Why not? If they brought the baby there to examine then it would be pretty easy and simple to get rid of it right then and there. I imagine it would be easier to have all the mothers bring the babies to the cliff instead of have the "inspectors" go around to every house and look at all the babies.
Nick Bylsma