Free Republic

Without firing a shot (except at the firing range), Americans have won a revolution -- state by state. Texas is the latest to join the freedom coalition. The Texas Tribune reported to its dismay, "Texans can carry handguns without a license or training starting Sept. 1, after Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday signed the permitless carry bill into law. 35 years ago, it was illegal in 16 states (including Texas) for a civilian to carry a concealed weapon. Only Vermont did not require a pistol permit. Working through the slow process of going state to state to change the law,...

Fragments of an ancient Greek text telling of an invasion of Greece by the Goths during the third century A.D. have been discovered in the Austrian National Library. The text includes a battle fought at the pass of Thermopylae. Researchers used spectral imaging to enhance the fragments, making it possible to read them. The analysis suggests the fragments were copied in the 11th century A.D. and are from a text that was written in the third-century A.D. by an Athens writer named Dexippus.

Fragments of an ancient Greek text telling of an invasion of Greece by the Goths during the third century A.D. have been discovered in the Austrian National Library. The text includes a battle fought at the pass of Thermopylae. Researchers used spectral imaging to enhance the fragments, making it possible to read them. The analysis suggests the fragments were copied in the 11th century A.D. and are from a text that was written in the third-century A.D. by an Athens writer named Dexippus. During Dexippus' life, Greece (part of the Roman Empire) and Rome struggled to repel a series of...

Conservatives want Thermopylae. Congressional Republican leaders instead imitate the Confederate defense of Atlanta -- the one that led a local editor to write that General Joseph E. Johnston's reputation had "grown with every backward step." [Snip] In the battle over health-care policy (and in most other big fights in recent years), Senate Republicans likewise have maintained unity, have arrayed themselves on favorable ground, have performed every technical maneuver with flawless precision -- and have yet to win a single major battle about which conservatives care deeply. And like the local Atlanta editor in 1864 praising Gen. Johnston's retreats, the McClatchy...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush warned on Wednesday a nuclear-armed Iran could lead to World War III as he tried to shore up international opposition to Tehran amid Russian skepticism over its nuclear ambitions. Bush was speaking a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has resisted Western pressure to toughen his stance over Iran's nuclear program, made clear on a visit to Tehran that Russia would not accept any military action against Iran. At a White House news conference, Bush expressed hope Putin would brief him on his talks in Tehran and said he would ask...

`Glory of Persepolis' goes on screen in response to insulting movie `300'Tehran, May 1, IRNA Iran-Movie-Persepolis A number of experts and critics attending the screening and analysis session of the documentary dubbed `Glory of Persepolis' said that it reflects the dignity of Iranians and Persepolis, adding that it is a proper response to the insulting Hollywood movie `300'. The screening of a new series of films started at Nour film house of Imam Ali (AS) Religious Arts Museum on Monday afternoon and `Glory of Persepolis' was the first film that was screened and analyzed. The session was attended by the...

Paris, March 17, IRNA Paris-UNESCO-Movie `300' Iran's representative to the Paris-based UNESCO, Mohammad-Reza Dehshiri, in a letter to UNESCO director general criticized screening of Warner Brothers anti-Iran movie `300' and called for its severe reaction and condemnation of such an insult. In his letter, Dehshiri protested over the inciting nature of the movie, deliberately insulting the Iranian nation, as the founder of dialogue among cultures and civilizations. Meanwhile, he underlined UNESCO's responsibility towards this sensitive issue, given the need for promotion of international peace and solidarity based on the introduction to the UNESCO Charter, calling for a proper reaction to...

The movie "300" - based on a "graphic novel" (read comic book), itself loosely based on the battle of Thermopylae (480 BC) - has drawn the usual thoughtful and nuanced response from the turbaned thugs who run Iran. The last stand of King Leonidas and his 300 Spartans denigrates the glorious Persian antecedents of present day Iran, charges Javad Shangari, art advisor to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. "Art advisor" to a terrorist state - now there's a non sequitur. Does he critique artists who work in body parts? "Hollywood declares war on Iranians" blared the headline in a Tehran daily....

Spartans Overwhelmed at Thermopylae, Again March 22, 2007 by Eugene Borza A technically exciting videogame of a film, 300 loses touch with a critical and moving event in Greek history. Herodotus, the ?Father of History,? told many good stories, but there are few tales in his repertoire that surpass his narrative of the last-ditch stand of the Greeks against numerically superior forces at the pass of Thermopylae in August, 480 B.C. A huge military force led by Xerxes, the Persian King of Kings, crossed the Hellespont from Asia into Europe, intent on the subjugation of Greece. Whether Xerxes intended this...

From all indications, the last two years of the Bush Administration will promise concerted, if not singular, attention upon the American commitment in Iraq. No serious effort to address other important issues of our day is on the horizon. Social Security, School Choice, Health Care Costs, Tort Reform, forget it! Savage Libby, Gonzales, Rumsfeld, Cheney, or DeLay with scurrilous, hyperbolic accusations, no problem! But, dare to challenge the mission in Iraq and face the vehement wrath of the veto hammer. This is Bush’s Thermopylae. This is Bush’s last stand. If he fails here, then everything else will matter very little....

When a messenger warned Leonidas, The Spartan King, that the Persian Army under Xerxes was invading Greece to destroy Democratic Greece, and that the Athenians were afraid and badly needed help, Leonidas replied, "What do you expect from a nation of philosophers and boy-lovers?" And, strapping on his war gear, took his men and marched into history. And yes, there is a direct parallel between the modern day Marines and their willingness to die to save Democracy and the clueless Liberal boy lovers it so tragically spawns...

Like watching a blood-drunk barbarian on a rampage, 300, like its title, drops the pretense of history—it purports to dramatize the ancient battle of Thermopylae between Spartans and Persians—and offers what can only be described as a mongrel mix of audio-visual fury. 300 is History hijacked by Horror. A band of Spartan men go to war led by a king (Gerard Butler) married to a queen (Lena Headey) who insulted the enemy that marches upon their civilization, which is depicted as a haven for hateful half-savages. It's easier to follow who's who and what's what than one might expect, yet...

It was a bloodbath at the U.S. box office this weekend because of 2007's first bonafide blockbuster. Warner Bros. told me this morning its 'R'-rated 300 about the epic Battle of Thermopylae shattered the record for the biggest March opening ever, and scored the 3rd biggest 'R'-rated movie debut ever, with its $70+ million. (Or, $70.025 mil to be exact, though the studio didn't provide a breakdown.) Other studios say this 'Gladiator Gore-Fest' raked in $27.7 mil to $28 mil Friday and $24.3 mil to $24.8 mil Saturday and an estimated $16 mil to $17.2 mil Sunday from its 3,103...

I just watched a trailer of the new movie coming out - 300. It looks fairly decent. Anyone have anything to say about the movie? There are scenes where the talk about freedom and being free. I do not know the history of back then, but watching the trailer, I seemed to get a connection with what is going on in the world right now concerning the WOT and the storyline of the movie. They go against Persia - modern day Iran. 300 against one million - the United States against the world. Am I reading too much into this?...

I need some expertise on reading the greek language, or greek translated to latin. . . to english. I'm a bit lost.

Cyrus the Great Cylinder, The First Charter of Human Rights By 546 BCE, Cyrus had defeated Croesus, the Lydian king of fabled wealth, and had secured control of the Aegean coast of Asia Minor, Armenia, and the Greek colonies along the Levant. Moving east, he took Parthia (land of the Arsacids, not to be confused with Parsa, which was to the southwest), Chorasmis, and Bactria. He besieged and captured Babylon in 539 and released the Jews who had been held captive there, thus earning his immortalization in the Book of Isaiah. When he died in 529, Cyrus's kingdom extended as...

Our main sources for early Hoplite warfare come from the writings of Herodotus, who was born in the Greek city of Halicarnassus, on the southwest coast of Asia Minor, in 484 bc. He was an Ionian Greek who traveled widely and lived for a while in Athens, before settling in Thurii, a Greek colony in southern Italy. He died about 424 BC. We also get information from Thucydides, an Athenian who wrote of the Pelopponnesian Wars. We can also find references in the works of several of the Greek playwrights' material on Hoplite warfare. We can find an account of...

TEHRAN (MNA) -- During the latest season of excavations of the northern gate of Takht-e Suleiman, an ancient Zoroastrian fire temple located in northwestern Iran, the stamps of two seals were discovered which indicate that objects entered Takht-e Suleiman from other regions with special tags attached to them which seem to be advertisements. They signify that an early form of advertising was being practiced during the Sassanid era (224-642 C.E.), Yusef Moradi, the head of the excavation team, said on Friday. “The team began its excavations in early August and found the stamps of two seals at the upper levels...

Secrets of an ancient Persian armada sunk off the coast of Greece 2500 years ago are being dredged up by modern archaeologists. A team from Greece, Canada and the United States has just completed a second expedition to retrieve artefacts from 300 ships of the Persian King Darius that were wrecked in a storm off the Mt Athos Peninsula, northern Greece, in 492BC or 493BC. Aucklanders will be among the first to hear the results today when three of the expedition leaders present their findings in a free public lecture at Auckland University. In two trips so far, last October...

The History Channel is going to air a new historical series entitled DECISIVE BATTLES including some classic wars between ancient Persian armies and Roman and Greek ones. The History Channel goes on location to the actual battlefields and integrates cutting-edge videogame technology to bring history and imagination together in the new series DECISIVE BATTLES. The half-hour series DECISIVE BATTLES premieres Friday, July 23 at 9-9:30pm ET/PT. The series is hosted by Matthew Settle (Band of Brothers) on location at the ancient battlefields and features expert commentary from the world©s foremost historians. DECISIVE BATTLES is unlike any series The History Channel...