These ancient Greek warriors numbered 300. They were knownthroughout the land as the most fearsome, the most courageous, themost tenacious fighters to pick up a spear and shield. They foughtfor their home city-state against great odds, winning glory on thebattlefield and freedom for their countrymen. In their finalbattle, they held their ground while their allies fled, refusing tosurrender though they were surrounded. They fought to their lastbreath, every last one.

Sounds like the plot to the hit film “300,” no? Not quite. Thesewarriors weren’t Spartans valiantly resisting the Persian hordes atthe Battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C.E. They were Thebans, winningcombat glory and meeting their bloody but brave end at the Battleof Chaeronea in 338 B.C.E., where they were annihilated by PhillipII of Macedon and his son, who would become known as Alexander theGreat.

One other thing about this other ancient Greek “300": They weregay. Not just gay, this “Sacred Band of Thebes,” this classicalversion of today’s special forces, was composed entirely of oldermen and their younger male lovers. They were, to use the Greekword, “pederasts.”

A tangled Web unwoven


I stumbled upon this odd parallel shortly after taking in ascreening of “300,” a blood-and-guts action epic that brings tocomputer-animated life a graphic novel by the singularly talentedFrank Miller. The movie tells of the Battle of Thermopylae, wherein300 Spartan warriors fought to the death against the largest armyever assembled in defense of Greece and, depending on which moviereview you read, freedom, democracy, Western civilization, thesurge in Iraq and legions of other contemporary allusions imposedupon what ought to be a simple film.

After I watched “300,” I succumbed to my second-favoritesedentary pastime: reading online reviews and articles about themovie I’d just seen. Oh, the hours of sleep I’ve lost to the sirenswww.rottentomatoes.com and Wikipedia. My slumber is often dashedupon the rocks of Wikipedia’s endless hyperlinks, which allow forthe instant intellectual gratification necessary to sustain a shortattention span.

From a page about Xerxes, the Persian “god-king” caricatured in"300,” I clicked through to his grandfather, Cyrus the Great, the"father of Iran” who I learned, to my surprise, is widelyconsidered the earliest champion of human rights. I followed mymouse to Alexander the Great, and reading of this unparalleledempire-builder’s conquests, I came across a mention of the “SacredBand of Thebes.”

Imagine if Hollywood had somehow conjured up a blood-and-gutsepic about that “300.” I wonder if it would be drawing cheeringcrowds of Marines to Oceanside’s Regal Theater for multipleviewings. Somehow, I doubt it.


Selective cultural memory

Hollywood picks and chooses what’s worthy of big-budgettreatment the same way our culture sifts through the Greekcivilization we’re supposedly based on. We boast about the Greekroots of our democracy, but we don’t dwell on the widespreadslavery that provided the Greek elite all the free time they neededto participate in their government. We hail the heroics of theSpartans, but we don’t dwell on the infanticide that sent many aninnocent baby to a gruesome death so that the city-state wouldn’tbe spoiled by “imperfections.”

We praise the Socratic method of teaching as recounted to us bySocrates’ star student, Plato, but we ignore the sexualizedenvironment in which these Greek philosophers lived -- thoughPlato’s Academy seems to have favored chaste relationships betweenmen and boys.

Plato imagined his ideal army in his “Symposium” this way:


“And if there were only some way of contriving that a state oran army should be made up of lovers and their loves, they would bethe very best governors of their own city, abstaining from alldishonor, and emulating one another in honor; and when fighting ateach other’s side, although a mere handful, they would overcome theworld. For what lover would not choose rather to be seen by allmankind than by his beloved, either when abandoning his post orthrowing away his arms? He would be ready to die a thousand deathsrather than endure this. Or who would desert his beloved or failhim in the hour of danger?”

And that’s pretty much where the idea for the “Sacred Band ofThebes” came from. Certainly, I’m not condoning sexual relationsbetween adults and adolescents; that’s one social more that’sclearly evolved from the days of the ancient Greeks. And from ourown cultural vantage point, with fraternization something we forbidamong our troops -- even the boys with the girls -- the idea of anelite military unit of gay couples is so foreign it borders on theridiculous.

Compromised promises

Heck, we find out a Marine, soldier, sailor, airman or reservistis eyeing the grunt to his right with anything other than bonds ofbrotherhood and we cashier him right out of the service.


In 1994, President Bill Clinton backed away from a campaignpledge to allow gay Americans to serve openly in the military andinstead instituted the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, which allowsgay men and lesbians to serve if they keep their sexual orientationprivate. Commanders aren’t allowed to ask, and service membersaren’t allowed to tell.

It was a reasonable compromise at the time, given the politicalclimate. But it has also led to the discharge of more than 10,000troops -- including 322 linguists and 54 Arabic languagespecialists -- since the policy was adopted. A federal audit foundthat most of the discharged personnel were booted for accidentaldisclosures rather than intentional defiance of the policy.

Almost all of our military allies allow gay men and women toserve openly in their militaries. Enemies like Iran and North Koreaand allies like Saudi Arabia and Egypt do not.

At a time when our military is stretched to the breaking pointby repeat and extended deployments and lowering standards forrecruitment, we’re keeping good men and women who want to servetheir country from enlisting or serving. Almost as troubling is thefact that we’re encouraging a closeted life of deception and denialamong the many military men and women who are gay and are forced tohide it from their closest friends.


Morality and immorality

Last month, Marine Gen. Peter Pace told the Chicago Tribune thathe believed homosexuality to be “immoral” and likened it toadultery. He expressed his personal belief that the militaryshouldn’t condone such “immoral behavior” by allowing gays to serveopenly in the armed forces.

Pace was speaking personally, not in his role as chairman of theJoint Chiefs of Staff and not setting policy. There’s no doubt hewas expressing a widely held viewpoint. But not unanimous: Thenoise surrounding Pace’s comments drowned out those a few monthsearlier by one of Pace’s predecessors, retired Army Gen. JohnShalikashvili. In an Op-Ed in The New York Times, Shalikashvili,who was Joint Chiefs chairman when the “don’t ask, don’t tell"policy was adopted, said he no longer opposed allowing gays toserve openly. He wrote that meeting with gay servicemen hadconvinced him “just how much the military has changed, and thatgays and lesbians can be accepted by their peers.”

What’s more, poll after poll suggests that younger Americans,including those serving in the military, are more comfortable withgays and even gays serving in the armed services. What’s the bigcivil right being demanded by gay rights activists throughout theland, after all? Marriage. The pursuit of monogamy hardly seemslike an “immoral” cause to me.


Perhaps it’s the hypocrisy that bothers me most. When there aregay men and women serving and dying in combat today, I personallythink it’s a shame that a top general equates their sexualpreference, which I and most scientists believe is inborn, to animmoral act like adultery. We’re willing to accept their sacrificeon the battlefield so long as they sacrifice their souls little bylittle by hiding their true identities.

More myths of ‘300'

Which brings me back to the myths spun by “300.” In the movie,Spartan King Leonidas dismissively refers to denizens of Sparta’srival, Athens, as “boy-lovers.” His archenemy, Xerxes, is portrayedas a lustful, makeup-wearing metrosexual monarch.

Here’s the rub: In real life, Xerxes conquered much of Greecebefore his Persian forces were finally turned back at the Battle ofSalamis. Along the way, he banned pederasty -- that’s man-boy love-- in Sparta, in an effort to demoralize the fearsome Spartan army.In Sparta, an intimate relationship with an older man was amandatory part of any would-be warrior’s education; scholarsdisagree on how many of those bonds were sexual in Sparta, butcertainly many were.


For good measure, there’s one last myth left to destroy from thefilm: the solitary nature of the Spartans’ stand at Thermopylae.The “300" Spartans weren’t the only contingent of Greek soldiers tofight to the death at Thermopylae; they were joined in sacrificialvalor by 700 warriors from Thespiae. That’s right: Thespians.

Contact Opinion editor Denis Devine at (760) 740-5415 orddevine@nctimes.com.