Posted in: Movies | Tagged: battle of artemisia, Comics, dark horse, film, frank miller, legendary, xerxes

Can You Tell Us Why Xerxes Will Not Be Called 300: Battle Of Artemisia?

Published Fri, 05 Aug 2011 18:13:18 -0500

Last updated Fri, 05 Aug 2011 18:16:40 -0500

Last month, The Hollywood Reporter broke the story that Noam Murro has been selected to direct Xerxes. And mentioned that it had been renamed 300: The Battle Or Artemisia. And everyone jumped in to follow.

Great scoop. Unfortunately it's not true. I don't mean the Noam Murro bit, I mean, the title.

There are a few teeny weeny problems. Aside from the obvious fact that no confirmation or press release has come from Warner Brothers or Legendary of a new title, that 300: Battle of Artemisia, has never been mentioned by Frank Miller, that it was still called Xerxes at San Diego Comic Con and Dark Horse Presents ran a teaser of the comic, still called Xerxes.

Basically, it's still called Xerxes.

The main problem is one that might be best addressed by a classical scholar, Fortunately I happen to have one in my pocket. Hey, classical scholar?

I'm sorry, what? Battle of Artemisia? [Laughs] Oh the poor dears, no, that will never do. Ah well, at least they are trying…

Now, "300" was the re-telling of the Battle of Thermopylae, which was only ONE of several battles that took place during the Greco-Persian Wars.

The first was Marathon when Darius tried to invade mainland Greece in 490 BC. Then, in 481/480/479 BC, his son Xerxes, invaded again. The 300 Spartans held the Hot Gates, while on the same three days, the first naval battle between the Persian and Greek armadas was fought close by, off-shore.

And while we're on that subject, do you know the difference between a word ending in "-a" and a word ending in "-us," or "-um?"

Well I do, oh classical scholar, how else would I differentiate between a baa, a bus or a bum?

However, changing the title to 300: The Battle of Artemisia, looks like something someone REALLY wants to be true. But the first person to correctly explain in the comments below why this title is a mistake of epic proportions will be credited with saving the integrity of the comics-to-film genre and its audience as being sentient.

First post considered acceptable wins… I don't know. Something. Something good. Something really good.

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