Not really, for a number of reasons: 1. The Persian King looks more like an Egyptian, and the soldiers didn't wear Greek tragedy-style masks. They also didn't have animal-hide shields - they used massive rectangular ones made out of woven wicker. 2. Bare chested spartans would have been massacred - even the Persians' wicker shields and quilted clothing would have provided more of a defence. 3. Do I need to mention the battle rhino? It is to a normal rhino what a Mumak is to an ordinary elephant - oversized, over aggressive and over exaggerated in terms of weaponry. The Mumak is great because it is from a fantasy setting, whereas the Battle of Thermopylae was a real historical battle, so the rhino is really out of place. In fact I don't think any race from history has even considered using rhinos in pitched battle. Ever. OK, I know 300 was based upon a comic book, but you would think that even a comic book would have more of a respect for the Battle of Thermopylae than that. Also the elephants to a lesser degree - while the Persians did use war elephants, they didn't use them in Thermopylae. 4. The neo-animated style looks pretty tacky and cartoonish. But then it is supposed to be basef off of a comic book. Overall, I imagine that as a film based on a comic book it isn't too bad, but for a film based upon the Battle of Thermopylae, I think it's dreadful. The inaccuracies of Troy pale compared to 300. For an actually historically accurate film, I vastly recommend the original 60s one.
I think this is the key point and the lens through which the movie should be judged. 300 is a super stylized over the top action movie that is based on the battle of Thermopylae in only the most basic of ways. If the goal is to watch a historical movie, 300 is a massive failure. However, if you're looking to watch a fun action movie, then 300 is a huge success. The movie looks visually stunning, has great quotable lines, superb action sequences and is generally quite entertaining. I love the movie, but I always watch it with the understanding that it literally a comic book come to life. It matches up very well to its source material, that being Frank Miller's comic book but is the farthest thing from a historical account of events.
Seems like a faithful comic book adaptation. (random sample) Looks like a lot of the film matches the comic scene for scene.
Sure, that's a matter of tastes. The point is that they are both comics reversed graphically into films, so thay should be watched with that in mind. (...it's not a surprise that I've read both Sin City and 300 before the movies were made, and i liked more SC.)