Indeed, Toq. In fact, the supreme commander of the combined forces of Greece was an Athenian naval commander named Themistocles. Even Sparta acknowledged his authority in the overall campaign. He was smart enough to know that if you have a land battle to be fought, you want your Delta Force, your Spartans, to head it
Also, what you said about the threat was correct. Most of Greece thought that after the whooping at Marathon, and the Ionian revolt, Persia was done with Greece. Although most of the city-states attended the gathering in Athens and paid lip-service to Athens, only Athens and Sparta initially took the threat seriously. That changed, dramatically, after the 300. That stand gave birth to the world's first democracy. And had it failed, democracy may never have evolved anywhere else.
History, much like movies, is also open to interpretation, perhaps to the prejudices and agenda of the reader. For instance, on Spartan boy-love, unlike Greece, where others have noted, it was common if not mandated, in Sparta it is known there was a law utterly forbidding coitus with boys. Some have suggested this to mean that everything but coitus was permitted as bonding ritual. Others have interpreted this, along with the very permissive courtship and marriage practices of Sparta, to suggest mass homophobia. The jury is out either way.
As for angrynight percieving me contradicting him, I did not. I actually said you pretty much nailed it. I expanded on only one point - where you stated that Leonidas used more than 300 men. I simply went into more detail on that
I
could nit a little more, though. For instance, there are more than one account of the words of the oracle. Citing one as canon is very difficult to do. The best source is probably Herodotus, but he was known to embellish, despite being the 'Father of Historians'. Even translating 1 single Greek passage to English can result in multiple, sometimes wildly different phrases.
Angrynight, for more interesting reading, I recommend research on the Athenian navy, and the battle at the pass they fought while the 300 fought on land. Also, read about the destruction of the fleeing Persian navy at the pincer battle at Salamis, and the subsequent Greek invasion of Persia. Utterly fascinating stuff - just as good a read as the 300
I DO highly recommend the documentary - I've TiVo'd it and watched it several times already, but take it with a grain of salt - many of the points are rather in dispute, and they went with certain points of view without offering any counter-opinion. For instance, there is known to have been a ritual of survival among the agoge. The boys were to survive on their own in the wild. Some historians will tell you they went out in organized groups with knives and lived off the land. Some will tell you the purpose was to sneak out and kill a Helot. We do know that if captured during this ritual, they were severely punished, but like most things Spartan, we know little factual information and have to interpret many vague things. The documentary ran with the "kill a Helot" angle. Very possibly true, but far from proven
Anyway, enjoy your research, and I'd be happy (as will others) to answer any questions or help you find out more