300 Angers Iranians

MSNBC reports that Iranians are angry at the film 300 because of its depiction of the Persian Empire. Apparently, the Iranian government is claiming the movie is an anti-Iranian propaganda piece and implying the film is an intentional move by the U.S. government. They've also noted its historical inaccuracies, though I don't think accuracy was something the movie was going for: it's based on a Frank Miller comic, not on history. Frank Miller's the guy who gave us Batman the Dark Knight Returns and Sin City. Accurate history would probably be something new for him.

Take it from the archaeologist that talking smack about ancient Persia is, well, ancient. I haven't seen this movie and probably never will, but if they've depicted Persian kings as weak and sexually decadent, that has ancient precedent whether or not it's accurate (cf. Esther and Daniel, for starters).

So here it is from MSNBC:

TEHRAN, Iran - The hit American movie “300” has angered Iranians who say
the Greeks-vs-Persians action flick insults their ancient culture and provokes
animosity against Iran.

“Hollywood declares war on Iranians,” blared a headline in Tuesday’s
edition of the independent Ayende-No newspaper. [more...]

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