Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by Tom Brennan (A) on January 02, 2007 at 18:30:32

In Reply to: Re: The 300 Spartans posted by DWPC on December 31, 2006 at 20:09:37:

The Greeks in the picture were not in Roman outfits.

The Spartans were wearing bronze Corinthian helmets, bell cuirasses and greaves--- very Greek, a little old fashioned for the time but the Spartans were conservative and armor was expensive and lasted a long time.

But certainly not Roman. Some early Roman armor copied Greek styles but there was a definate Italic style also. By the time of Marius the Romans were wearing chainmail and bronze "Montefortino" pot helmets. Helmets changed to Gallic styles under Augustus and in the 1st Century the banded iron strip armor we may think of as typically Roman started being used.

I like The 300 Spartans too. I actually think that with it's Greek politics and Herodotus it's over many heads. Xerxes, Demaratus and Hydarnes were very well done and I liked the way the picture showed the Greek use of light troops.

The Greek heavy infantry formations were not as dense and deep as they would really have been but the picture gets the idea across. Note that the Spartans did confound the Persians with feigned retreats as shown in the picture.