Thoughts on 300

War Nerd’s take on the new cartoon action epic 300, is that it’s essentially a neo-conservative propaganda piece that champions American values and takes a cheap shot at Iran.

While there is probably a lot of truth in this analysis, I do think the film’s critics have overlooked the significance of the Pelopennesse War in western culture.

Herodotus’s account of the Greek’s exploits in the war may well be one sided, but it seems to be an historical fact that in terms of numbers the Greeks thoroughly out fought the Persians.

The West has always been a labour poor civilisation, which has had to find ways to defend itself with inferior numbers. While Asiatic civilisations build up large populations through intensive grain farming, western nations, with less favourable climatic conditions, had to rely on low-intensity pastoral farming and seasonal grain crops. Such farming methods were not conducive to high population densities.

The resulting manpower shortage provided western civilisation with a strong incentive to develop labour saving technology and introduce a more individualistic social system. Democracy and citizenship were not so much about “self-actualisation” (as modern liberals assume) as about maximising each individual’s potential to help their city or nation state.

With fewer men, the ancient Greeks commanders had to use their manpower more resourcefully, and economically, than their Persian opponents and in doing so provided the inspiration for later audacious commanders like Alexander, Clive and Houston.