Reply #5: yup

[Deep13]

It was part of the "total institution" of Spartan society. The men rarely spent much time with their wives. The writers also left out the reliance on slavery of the "free" Spartans. All Greek cities had slavery, but Sparta was really based on it. That is why in the film the Spartan's Accadian allies were of various professions while the Spartans were all professional soldiers. They could afford to be because slaves did all the real work.

Didn't occur to me that Xerxes was supposed to be effeminate. He seemed too big and menacing for that. He was supposed to be a living god so he had to dress in an unearthly manner. That's how I looked at it. In truth he would not have looked either huge or dressed that way.

Here's a question. What's with the Speedo costumes? Greeks, including Spartans, wore torso-covering armor to battle. Surviving art reflects this. Only idealized nude scenes were shown without it.