> They were nowhere near as monstrous in real life In fact, they weren't monstrous at all. No more than any other army. One overlooked factoid in 300 is that

> They were nowhere near as monstrous in real life In fact, they weren't monstrous at all. No more than any other army. One overlooked factoid in 300 is that despite all the "we fought for FREEDOM!" stuff, the Greek city-states were slave-keeping societies (and Sparta was friendly with infanticide), whereas the Persians invading them were Zoroastrian - a religion that forbids slavery. :)