Summary
300: Rise of an Empireis the sequel to Zack Snyder’s300, but its relationship to the first movie’s timeline is much more complicated than a normal sequel’s would have been. In many ways,Rise of an Empireis an odd sequel.Snyder didn’t return to directRise of an Empire, for example, yetRise of an Empiredid feature some returning characters. Despite its unorthodox nature as far as sequels go,Rise of an Empiredoes connect quite well to300. That connection isn’t always very clear, though, especially as far as the duology’s timeline is concerned.
300: Rise of an Empiredeals with the same general time period of history that300does, namely the Greco-Persian War.Rise of an Empirefeatures the Battles of Artemisium and Salamis, and briefly the Battle of Marathon, while300focuses on the Battle of Thermopylae. Those battles took place over a fairly large amount of time in real life, and the movies cover a large portion of the Greco-Persian War, which makes it hard to place exactly whenRise of an Empiretakes place in relation to300without some historical context.
What Happened To Themistocles In 300: Rise Of An Empire
The ancient Greek soldier Themistocles was depicted in the 2014 film 300: Rise of an Empire, but some liberties were taken with history in the movie.
300: Rise Of An Empire Begins Around 490 BC & Ends After 480 BC
The first scenes ofRise of an Empiredepict the Battle of Marathon, and particularly Themistocles' involvement in it. While the movie took some creative liberties with its historical accuracy, as Themistocles didn’t kill Darius I, it does match up with when the Battle of Marathon took place in real life, according toEncyclopedia Britannica: 490 BCE. That battle marked the end of Darius I’s invasion of Greece, and Xerxes I wouldn’t begin his invasion until 480 BCE.That year is also when the main battles ofRise of an Empire, Artemisium and Salamis, took place, as well as the battle featured in300, Thermopylae.
300: Rise of an Empire Timeline
490 BCE
480 BCE
September 480 BCE
300: Rise Of An Empire Takes Place Before, During & After 300’s Timeline
The timeline ofRise of an Empireis fairly clear, but the way it fits with300is not.Rise of an Empiretakes place before, during, and after the events of300at different points in the movie, which is a major source of the confusion. The Battle of Marathon takes place 10 years before all of300and most ofRise of an Empire. The Battle of Artemisium and the Battle of Thermopylae took place at the same time, as they were planned as a simultaneous defensive strategy where the Spartans would defend by land while the Greek fleet defended by sea.
The Battle of Artemisium makes up the bulk ofRise of an Empire, so most of the movie took place at the same time as300. However,the final battle ofRise of an Empire, the Battle of Salamis, took place after300and a few months after Artemisium and Thermopylae. Because of the battles inRise of an Empire, it and300depict a significant portion of Persia’s two invasions of Greece. Xerxes' invasion would last another year, but Salamis was a major turning point in the Greco-Persian War. Together,300and300: Rise of an Empirefill out their timelines quite well.
300: Rise of an Empire
Cast
Based on Frank Miller’s latest graphic novel, “Xerxes,” 300: Rise of an Empire follows greek general Themistokles' attempts to unite all of Greece by leading the charge that will change the course of the war. The movie pits Themistokles against the massive invading Persian forces led by mortal-turned-god Xerxes and the deadly Artemisia, the vengeful commander of the Persian navy.
300
Loosely based on Frank Miller’s comic series of the same name, Zack Snyder’s 300 tells the legend of the historical battle of Thermopylae. It follows King Leonidas of Sparta (Gerard Butler) as he leads a small force of 300 Spartans against the amassed Persian army of 300,000. Meanwhile, his wife Queen Gorgo (Lena Headey) remains in Sparta to negotiate reinforcements against political resistance.
