The Truth Behind '300' [Persian view]

Spenta Productions ^ | 3/18/07 | Cyrus Kar

[freedom44]

GGG

[martin_fierro]

Before 1850, however, the West had a very favorable impression of the Persian Empire.

Before 1979 the West had a pretty favorable impression of Iran, too.

[SoldierMedic]

Since the author seems so enamored with Xenophon, perhaps the next great movie should be "March of the 10,000"

[James W. Fannin]

Very interesting article. If it reveals a few twists the west has turned into our view of history, it also may suggest that freedom is much more culturally unique than Americans would like to believe -- and may possibly even be quite exclusive. Perhaps we should avoid trying to liberate the world and concentrate on defending what is already liberated.

[Shanda]

There is a little bit of truth to this but some nonsense too. The Spartans were certainly not Africans. My classics professor said that although most of them were probably black headed, they were Doric Greeks and were often thought of as tall and blond as opposed to the Ionians who were shorter and had a Mediterranean complexion.

[Prodigal Son]

I've never understood the fascination Americans have with the Spartan society. From all the descriptions I have ever read about it, it doesn't sound like a place you'd want to live.

Ok, so a few of them died in a hopeless battle. So what? Custer led his men to a very stupid death. This doesn't make him a hero even though I'm sure his men fought bravely.

[freedom44]

Yeah I mean the Shah of Iran had a massive show at the 2,500 years celebration of the Persian Empire. Remember that ? I think it was 1974. Iran spent about 30 million and lots of world leaders attended. It was huge. I think it was *after* 1979 that the West got the negative impression.

[rogue yam]

Boy, you sure gotta wade through a lot to get to the weenie:

My documentary film about Cyrus The Great...has languished for a mere want of $400,000.

Beware the wrath of a poseur scorned!

[Mark was here]

"In 498 BCE..."

I despise people who use the term BCE, using the term tells me that they are so politically correct that they are beyond redemption.

[Stultis]

Interesting article (despite the wadded panty syndrome).

[dasboot]

I became acquainted with the rise and fall of the Persian Empire in a book written in 1850. And, as the author claims, the view in the west was, IIRC, much more favorable. Idiosyncratic...Xerxes flogging water; the king who accidentally killed himself with his own sword; and the guile and trickery, common in the associations of royal rivals. A lot of credit was given to contributions to civilization, due to the empire's existence. It was certainly NOT the Arab craphole it may be viewed as having become in the last... what, 1200 years or something?

And is their not still a strain of Persian nationalism running through the place...and at common foe-hood with our Wahhab enemies??

My point? The guy has a point! Many!

[vbmoneyspender]

it also may suggest that freedom is much more culturally unique than Americans would like to believe

------------------------

I shall carry it with me to my grave, as a strong incitement to unceasing vows that Heaven may continue to you the choicest tokens of its beneficence; that your Union and brother affection may be perpetual; that the free Constitution, which is the work of your hands, may be sacredly maintained; that its Administration in every department may be stamped with Wisdom and Virtue; that, in fine, the happiness of the people of these States, under the auspices of liberty, may be complete by so careful and preservative and so prudent a use of this blessing as will acquire to them the glory of recommeding it to the applause, the affection, the adoption of every nation which is yet a stranger to it.

George Washington's Resignation Address:

[Prodigal Son]

I think the author makes a good point and it is also a point most freepers normally agree with. Hollywood is in the history rewriting business. I don't think many freepers will agree with him in this case though because he is talking positively about Persia (Iran). They are on our sh!t list at the moment and therefore nothing positive can be said about them. Which, ironically, is also a form of rewriting history to suit current needs which puts us in the same business as Hollywood.

The author needs to get with the program. The West has always been at war with Persia. The UK has always been our friend. France has always been a nation full of cheese eating surrender monkeys.

If the author wanted Westerners to agree with him, he should've written his stupid article pre- 1979 when Iran (Persia) was still our friend. Then he may have gotten a bit more support.

[James W. Fannin]

No worries. Let them earn it.

[xkaydet65]

Perhaps the best book I've read on this subject was titled From Plato to NATO. In it the author portrayed the Western concepts of liberty as not deriving from the Greek, but from a confluence of Roman Republicanism and Germanic tribal concepts of the freedom of the individual. Athenian Democracy is described for what it was, rule of the majority, and as Socrates could have told us, rule of the majority without liberty is destructive.

Yet the author here praises the Persians a tad too much. Their rule was despotic, and while Cyrus and his heirs could have been benevolent despots, any despotic rule is far more open to tyranny than that of a democratic city state. Persia trumped Greece in wealth, sophisitication, and size and power, but as Steven Pressfield says, through the voice of Dianekes in Gates of Fire,"You have never tasted freedom, else you would know. It is purchased, not with gold, but with steel." That is the lesson of Leonidas and the 300.

[FreeAtlanta]

What does BCE stand for?

[freedom44]

Your post was great! One of the best I have seen on FR in years.

[Excellence]

Iran in the present tense is not what Persia was in the past tense. Islam happened, and there went Persia. Conflating the two is in error.