300

When young, Prince Leonidas undergoes the incredibly fierce warrior training given to all Sparta's boys. His final test is to live alone high in the mountains during winter. Leonidas lives by strength and guile, killing a ferocious wolf to survive.

He returns home, and on the death of his father, becomes king. Then a Persian messenger comes to Sparta, demanding that King Leonidas swears allegiance to King Xerxes. Leonidas's answer is a simple no, brutally expressed by throwing the messenger into a fathomless pit.

Next, word arrives in Sparta that King Xerxes has assembled a huge sea-borne invasion force. King Leonidas wants to declare war, but the Oracle and her priests veto his wish. Without official backing, and so unable to put the country on a proper war-footing, King Leonidas gathers just 300 of his fellow Spartans to meet the Persian threat.

Arriving at the narrow pass of Thermopylae, they build a defensive wall, then coldly and calmly wait for the Persians to attack.

Soon the huge Persian army makes its first advance on the Spartan position. Using the combination of a phalanx formation (whereby they form an impregnible tortoise-like shell with their shields), and stupendous fighting prowess, the Spartans slaughter huge numbers of the attacking hoards.

The Persians retreat to regroup and rethink their tactics. Can the Spartans continue to halt the advance of the megalith?