Blog Number 74 - Xerxes in Frank Miller's '300'

The character in Frank Miller's '300' that I found the most intriguing next to Ephialtes was that of Xerxes, the king of Persia. It wasn't King Leonidas for the reason that Frank Miller's version of the King of Sparta encompassed all the virtues that I had seen in 'The 300 Spartans' and in all of the books that I had read. Specifically, it was the illustrations of Xerxes which made me take notice and while they weren't as startling as the appearance of Ephialtes, they differed greatly from the images of the Persian king that I had seen.

It was a combination of the shaved head, body piercings and the Nubian-like appearance which seemed so enthralling. Once again, I was perplexed as to why Frank Miller had taken a character so deeply ingrained in the psyche of those of us who had seen the movie 'The 300 Spartans' and radically altered his appearance.

The only theory that I could come up with was that since Xerxes led an army comprised of 46 nations spread over three continents, his appearance was a composite of the multicultural forces that he commanded.