The journey of King Leonidas in the movie 300, like many of the other journeys of the heroes of our time, follows the criteria of the heroic monomyth that was first introduced in a 1949 Joseph Campbell novel, titled the Hero With A Thousand Faces. Campbell’s monomyth is composed of three phases each containing separate criteria. The three phases in order are the Departure, the Initiation, and the Return.
The first criteria in the departure stage is the hero's call to adventure, and it is the stage in which the hero is first subjected to trouble in the outside world. In 300, King Leonidas receives his call to adventure when a group of Persian messengers come to his town to inform him that the Persian Empire would like to claim some of his people’s land and water. The next piece of criteria within the departure stage is the refusal of the call, and in 300 takes place when King Leonidas decides to kick the Persian messengers into a water well at the center of his town rather than giving him a message to return to his leader. King Leonidas then seeks the aid of the supernatural when he seeks the approval from the oracles to go to war. He then “crosses the first threshold” when he seeks the approval of the senate in his Spartan community. The final criteria of the departure stage is the “Belly of the Whale”. This criteria takes place when the hero has clearly stepped into the darkness of his new adventure. King Leonidas enters the “Belly of the Whale” when he and his army of 300 spartans march passed a town of Greek that was slaughtered by the Persians.
Stage two of the monomyth is the Hero’s Initiation. The first two criteria are the hero’s “Road of Trials”, and “Meeting with the Goddess”. King Leonidas has many trials along his journey including fighting an entire empire with an army of just 300 spartans, and he meets with the Goddess in the beginning of the movie when his wife Gorgo revealed. King Leonidas illustrates the apotheosis of him and his men when his faithful companion Stelios says “Arcadian, I've fought countless times, yet I've never met an adversary who could offer me what we Spartans call "A Beautiful Death." I can only hope, with all the world's warriors gathered against us, there might be one down there who's up to the task.” Leonidas and his army would consider dying for Sparta to be honorable. This attitude was passed from Leonidas to his men, and thats why it is also the “Ultimate Boon” of the Initiation stage.
The final stage of the heroic monomyth is the return stage. However, in the case of King Leonidas, it can be argued that his return took place in a non physical sense, as he passed down his thinking and courage to the warriors that stood by for his honorable death.
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