I confess I find it a fascinating area of study though highly speculative. The Amalekites, for instance, are condemned by God for attacking the weak and young stragglers from behind; not different than the modern terrorists bombing grammar schools and the like.
I like movies like that because I have always been a student of ancient history, tho not a really serious one. I was a Classics major for a while and thought Xerxes was really not such a bad King as ancient despots go.
He was in the wrong in his invasions of Greece tho. He got his ass handed to him and a hundred or more years later, Alexander got ultimate revenge for the Greeks.
I will say the portrayal of Xerxes in “300” was about as badly done as it would be possible to do.