King
Xerxes I of Persia leads a vast army of soldiers into Europe to defeat the small city-states of Greece, not only to fulfill the idea of “
one world ruled by one master”, but also to avenge the defeat of his father
Darius I at the
Battle of Marathon 10 years before. Accompanying him are
Artemisia, the Queen of
Halicarnassus, who beguiles Xerxes with her charm, and
Demaratus, an exiled king of
Sparta, whose warnings Xerxes does not heed. Xerxes releases a captured Spartan soldier, Agathon, and tells him to inform the Greeks of their impending doom. In
Corinth, General
Themistocles of Athens wins the support of the Greek city-states and convinces both their delegates and the Spartan representative, King
Leonidas I, to grant Sparta leadership of the allied Greek forces, with Themistocles himself put in charge of the Athenian navy, recently reinforced with 200 new ships. Outside the hall, Leonidas and Themistocles agree to fortify the narrow pass at
Thermopylae with a vanguard force until the rest of the army arrives. After learning of the Persian advance from Agathon, Leonidas travels to Sparta to rally the troops. In Sparta, his fellow king
Leotychidas II is fighting a losing battle with the
ephors – a council of five magistrates – over the religious harvest festival of
Carneia that is due to take place, with members of the council arguing that the army should wait until the festival is over before marching to war, while Leotychidas fears that by that time, the Persians may have conquered Greece. Leonidas decides to march north immediately with his personal bodyguard of 300 veteran men, who are exempt from the decisions of the ephors and the
Gerousia, while Leotychidas remains in Sparta. The 300 Spartans are subsequently reinforced by a contingent of about 700 volunteer Thespians led by Demophilus, and a few other Greek allies. After several days of fighting, Xerxes grows angry as his army is repeatedly routed by the Greeks, with the Spartans in the forefront. Leonidas receives word sent by his wife that, by decision of the ephors, the remainder of the Spartan army, rather than joining him as he had expected, will only fortify the
isthmus in the
Peloponnese and will advance no further. The Greeks constantly beat back the Persians; following the defeat of most of his "
Immortals" (personal bodyguard) by the Spartans and the death in battle of two of his brothers, Xerxes begins to consider withdrawing to
Sardis until he can equip a larger force at a later date. He prepares to withdraw, as advised by Artemesia (who, having a Greek mother, may have her own agenda to dissuade the king from continuing the invasion). Xerxes, however, receives word from the treacherous and avaricious
Ephialtes, who has been also spurned by Spartan maiden Ellas (who accompanied her Spartan soldier boyfriend Phyllon to the battlefield, where he wishes to prove his courage), of a secret old goat-track through the mountains that will enable Persian forces to attack the Greeks from the rear. Promising to richly reward the traitorous goatherd for his betrayal (as Ephialtes had expected), an emboldened Xerxes sends his army onward. The Phocian troops dispatched by Leonidas to guard the secret path are summarily defeated. Once Leonidas realizes he will be surrounded, he sends away the Greek allies to alert the cities to the south. Being too few to hold the pass, the Spartans instead attack the Persian front, where Xerxes is nearby. Leonidas is killed in the melée. Meanwhile, the Thespians, who had refused to leave, are overwhelmed (offscreen) while defending the rear. Surrounded, the surviving Spartans refuse Xerxes's demand to give up Leonidas' body in exchange for safe passage. They are then all annihilated as the remaining Immortals rain down a barrage of arrows. After this, narration states that the
Battle of Salamis and the
Battle of Plataea end the Persian invasion, but that the Greeks could not have been organized and victorious without the time bought by the 300 Spartans who defied the tyranny of Xerxes at Thermopylae. One of the final images of the film is the stone memorial bearing the
epigram of Simonides of Ceos, which the narrator recites in honor of the slain 300 Spartan men's bravery : "Oh stranger, tell the Spartans that we lie here obedient to their word." Then ends with "...But it was more than a victory for Greece, it was a stirring example to free people throughout the world of what a few brave men can accomplish once they refuse to submit to tyranny!" ==Cast== •
Richard Egan as
King Leonidas of Sparta •
Ralph Richardson as
Themistocles of Athens •
Diane Baker as Ellas, daughter of Pentheus •
Barry Coe as Phyllon, Spartan in love with Ellas •
David Farrar as
King Xerxes of Persia •
Donald Houston as
Hydarnes, leader of
the Persian Immortals •
Anna Synodinou as
Queen Gorgo of Sparta •
Kieron Moore as
Ephialtes of Trachis, farm worker & Greek traitor •
John Crawford as Agathon, Spartan spy and soldier •
Robert Brown as Pentheus, Leonidas' second-in-command •
Laurence Naismith a Greek delegate • Anne Wakefield as
Artemisia, Queen of Halicarnassus •
Ivan Triesault as
Demaratus, exiled former King of Sparta •
Charles Fernley Fawcett as
Megistias, Spartan priest •
Michalis Nikolinakos as Myron, a Spartan • Sandro Giglio as Xenathon, a Spartan Ephor • Dimos Starenios as Samos, a goatherd • Anna Raftopoulou as Toris, Samos' wife • Yorgos Moutsios as
Demophilus, leader of
the Thespians • Nikos Papakonstantinou as Grellas, a Spartan in Xerxes' camp • John G. Contes as Artovadus, Persian general • Marietta Flemotomos as a Greek woman • Kostas Baladimas as
Mardonius, Persian general •
Zannino as Athenian citizen, Persian general ==Production==