QWhy didn't Leonidas or Gorgo have Theron arrested or executed?
ATheron (Dominic West) had control over the senate, who could overrule the king in relation to state matters. So while Leonidas was in command, the Senate had more power than he did. Both Gorgo and Leonidas know Theron is a threat, but because of his position in the Senate, to arrest and/or execute him would look as if Leonidas had gone mad with power and was going against the Ephors.
QWhat was the significance of Leonidas saying "May you live forever" to Ephialtes?
ATo say "May you live forever" to a Spartan is to insult them, as a Spartan's goal in life was to die in the glory of battle. So to say to a fellow Spartan that you hope they live forever, is to deny them their glory. It also has a double-meaning when Leonidas says this, because he also wants Ephialtes to live forever with the guilt and shame of betraying the Spartans.
QWhy didn't Sparta send its full army north to support King Leonidas?
ASpartan policy was not set by the kings, but by the Ephors, five men who formed an executive council that was elected annually (in 300, the Ephors are lecherous mystics who live on a mountaintop). According to Herodotus, the Ephors concluded that Sparta could afford to wait until after the city had celebrated the Carneian Festival before deploying the army. Xerxes had been delaying his invasion for months, so the Greeks did not realize that the main Persian thrust was imminent. Advised of the festival by exiled Spartan king Demaratus, Xerxes altered his plans so that the attack would take full advantage of the distraction offered by the festival. Other Greek states withheld troops because they were celebrating the Olympics, thus leaving the defense of Thermopylae seriously undermanned. Sparta traditionally restricted its military activity to the Peloponnesus (southern Greece), so it is possible that the Ephors favored a defense centered on the Isthmus of Corinth and were reluctant to send troops to the rescue of Thebes and Athens. This theory is part of the storyline of The 300 Spartans (1962), the movie that inspired Frank Miller to write the graphic novel on which 300 is based.
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