[Uh-Nu-Buh]

Epaminondas--check the wikipedia link in my earlier post. Different historians believe different things. I had always heard it was 150,000. The subject of my post refers to the movie though--and in the movie there are supposed to be a million persians....

It will be interesting to see the Immortals, how they are depicted, etc.

Endoperez--Gemmel does too have ridiculous stupidity in his books! The difference is that the idiot dies young and fast and is nevermore mentioned....

Yeah, I get your meaning. However, the comic book/graphic novel was a dramatization of thermopylae, and the movie was based on the graphic novel and further dramatized.

Personally, I don't look for that much realism in a fantasy movie. I don't want to know that half the people are going nuts due to the nervous system damage of syphilis and gonnorrhea, that the beautiful women had mouths full of crooked and rotten teath, that complexions were the opposite of creamy and smooth, that lice and fleas were the norm, and that people routinely drank the clear water out of sewer ditches, becaus as long as it was fairly clear it must be healthy. Diarrhea was common. Tooth aches caused more fights than slights to honor. Etc. ad nauseum. I'd rather a Homer's or Herodotus' view of these times/men/heroes--tough, strong men of cunning and skill. Tall and handsome and full of vigor and vitality. Heroes, who answer the call and fight the day through. Strong armed and gods blessed, swift of foot, sure of sight.

I classify this movie as a fantasy, and I look forward to it (now watch it turn out to be the worst movie of the new year.)