their name.
We are with you, sire.
For Sparta, for freedom.
To the death.
He is your son.
He is too young
to have felt a woman's warmth.
I have others to replace him.
Astinos is as brave
and ready as any.
No younger than we were the first time
you stood next to me in battle.
You are a good friend.
But a better captain...
There is none.
My good king.
My good king,
the oracle has spoken.
The ephors have spoken.
There must be no march.
It is the law, my lord.
The Spartan army must
not go to war.
Nor shall it.
I've issued no such orders.
I'm here just taking
a stroll, stretching my legs.
These 300 men are
my personal bodyguard.
- Our army will stay in Sparta.
- Where will you go ?
I hadn't really thought
about it, but I...
... now that you ask,
I suppose I'll head north.
The Hot Gates.
Move out !
Move out !!
What shall we do ?
- What can we do ?
- What can you do ?
Sparta will need sons.
Spartan !
Yes, my lady ?
Come back with your shield
or on it.
Yes, my lady.
Goodbye, my love.
He doesn't say it.
There's no room for softness,
not in Sparta.
No place for weakness.
Only the hard and strong
may call themselves Spartans.
Only the hard, only the strong.
We march.
For our lands, for our families,
for our freedoms.
We march.
Daxos, what a pleasant surprise.
This morning is full
of surprises, Leonidas.
We've been tricked.
Can't be more than a few hundred.
- This is a surprise.
- Silence !
We heard Sparta
was on the warpath.
We were eager to join forces.
If it is blood you seek,
you're welcome to join us.
But you bring only this handful
of soldiers against Xerxes ?
I see I was wrong to expect Sparta's
commitment to at least match our own.
Doesn't it ?
You there.
- What is your profession ?
- I'm a potter, sir.
And you, Arcadian, what
is your profession ?
- Sculptor, sir.
- Sculptor.
- And you ?
- Blacksmith.
Spartans, what is your profession ?
See, old friend ?
I brought more soldiers
than you did.
No sleep tonight.
Not for the king.
All his forty years
have been a straight road
to this one gleaming
moment in destiny.
This one radiant clash
of shield and spear,
sword and boone
and flesh and blood.
His only regret is that he has
so few to sacrifice.
We're being followed.
It has followed us since Sparta.
My king, look !
What happened here ?
Where are all the people ?
Persians.
I put their number around 20.
Scouted path.
But these footprints.
Leonidas.
Child.
It's quiet now.
They came with mist
from the blackness.
With their claws and fangs
they grabbed us.
Everyone... but me.
The villagers... They found them.
Have the gods no mercy ?
We are doomed.
Quiet yourself.
The child speaks
of the Persian ghosts.
Known from the ancient times.
They are the hunters
of men souls.
They cannot be killed
or defeated.
Not this darkness.
Not these Immortals.
Immortals ?
We'll put their name
to the test.
Into the Hot Gates we march.
Into that narrow corridor
we march.
Where Xerxes' numbers
count for nothing.
Spartans, citizen soldiers,
freed slaves.
Brave Greeks all.
Brothers, fathers, sons.
We march.
For honor's sake, for duty's sake,
for glory's sake, we march.
Look !
Persians.
Into hell's mouth, we march.
That's our seas,
motherless dogs,
as they're embraced by the loving
arms of Greece itself.
Come.
True.
It does look like rain.
Zeus stabs the skies
with thunderbolts.
And batters the Persian ships
with hurricane wind.
Glorious.
Only one amongst us
keeps his Spartan reserve.
Only he.
Only our king.
My queen.
My queen, the courtyard is
no fitting place for a married woman.
I'm afraid gossip and protocol are
the least of my worries now, councilman.
Such secrecy needed.
How am I to