300 and hypocrisy

just saw 300. very entertaining movie. pure thrill. came out feelin i hadnt wasted my money n my time.

but it irritates me too. when xerxes invades greece, he's portrayed as a tyrant and a debauch and a crazed maniac who thinks of himself as god. (n oh yes he's also so foolish as to send soldiers with just swords and no shields. come on!) well ok. invaders r tyrants. but when alexander set out to invade everybody else, he is "alexander the great". baah. such hypocrisy.

or maybe xerxes is a tyrant because he lost. so we have the classical syndrome of history eulogizing the winners and villifying the losers. hence we have the "great" roman and later the english empires. or rather, the roman and english tyrants and plunderers.