FYI....I LOVE '300'. It's a great adventure. I don't think it was intended to be taken too seriously. After all, the whole tale was told as a way of rallying Spartans to battle against an approaching army.
Spartans, in reality, were ardent practitioners of man-love, slavery, and lived in a society that would make virtually any 21st-century cringe. Child abuse was a learning tool in public school, and women chose men as mates by how easily they could overpower them. They snubbed all non-Spartans, and had no real culture to speak of. Not compared their Athenian neighbors, anyway.
In the film, though, Spartans were seen as hyper-masculine freedom-loving John Wayne types who envisioned a democratic society, in spite of the corrupt clerics and politicians who stood in their way.
And finally, the film popularized long hair, loincloths, and flaming red capes. Though I can't quite sculpt my bod into anyhting approaching Spartan standards, I'm Spartan on the INSIDE!
And that's what really counts. Right?
