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• 
  Abbey Road Studios
  Abbey Road Studios is a recording studio located at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music company EMI, its present owner. It is most notable as being the venue in the 1960s for innovative recording techniques adopted by The Beatles, Pink Floyd, The Hollies, Badfinger, and others.
  Towards the end of 2009, the studio came under threat of sale to property developers, however the British Government protected the site, granting it English Heritage Grade II listed status in 2010, thereby preventing the building from subjection to major alterations.
  Originally a nine-bedroom Georgian townhouse built in the 1830s on the footpath leading to Kilburn Abbey, the building was later converted to apartments where the most flamboyant resident was Maundy Gregory. The premises were acquired by the Gramophone Company in 1931 and converted into studios. Pathé filmed the opening of the studios, when Sir Edward Elgar conducted the London Symphony Orchestra in recording sessions of his music. The neighbouring house is also owned by the studio and used to house musicians. During the mid-1900s the studio was extensively used by leading British conductor Sir Malcolm Sargent, whose house was just around the corner from the studio building.
  
  wn.com/Abbey_Road_Studios
• 
  Achaemenid Empire
  The Achaemenid Empire (/ækəˈmɛnɪˌdi/; Old Persian: Parsā, name of ruling dynasty: Haxāmanišiya) (c. 550–330 BCE), sometimes known as First Persian Empire, was an Iranian empire in Southwest Asia, founded in the 6th century BCE by Cyrus the Great who overthrew the Median confederation. It expanded to eventually rule over significant portions of the ancient world which at around 500 BCE stretched from the Indus Valley in the east, to Thrace and Macedon on the northeastern border of Greece making it the biggest empire the world had yet seen. The Achaemenid Empire would eventually control Egypt as well. It was ruled by a series of monarchs who unified its disparate tribes and nationalities by constructing a complex network of roads.
  Calling themselves the Parsa after their original Aryan tribal name Parsua, Persians settled in a land which they named Parsua, bounded on the west by the Tigris River and on the south by the Persian Gulf. This became their heartland for the duration of the Achaemenid Empire. It was from this region that eventually Cyrus the Great (Cyrus II of Persia) would advance to defeat the Median, the Lydian, and the Babylonian Empires, opening the way for subsequent conquests into Egypt and Asia minor.
  
  wn.com/Achaemenid_Empire
• 
  Arcadia
  Arcadia (Greek: Αρκαδία - Arkadía) is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the administrative region of Peloponnese. It is situated in the central and eastern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. It takes its name from the mythological character Arcas. In Greek mythology, it was the home of the god Pan. In European Renaissance arts, Arcadia was celebrated as an unspoiled, harmonious wilderness.
  Arcadia has its present-day capital at Tripoli. It covers about 18% of the Peloponnese peninsula, making it the largest regional unit on the peninsula. Arcadia has a ski resort on Mount Mainalo, located about 20 km NW of Tripoli. Other mountains of Arcadia are the Parnon in the southeast and the Lykaion in the west.
  The climate consists of hot summers and mild winters in the eastern part, the southern part, the low lying areas and the central area at altitudes lower than 1,000 m. The area primarily receives rain during fall and winter months in the rest of Arcadia. Winter snow occurs commonly in the mountainous areas for much of the west and the northern part, the Taygetus area, the Mainalon.
  
  wn.com/Arcadia
• 
  France
  France (English ⁱ/ˈfræns/ FRANSS or /ˈfrɑːns/ FRAHNSS; French: [fʁɑ̃s] ( listen)), officially the French Republic (French: République française [ʁepyblik fʁɑ̃sɛz]), is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean. It is often referred to as l’Hexagone ("The Hexagon") because of the geometric shape of its territory. It is the largest western European country and it possesses the second-largest exclusive economic zone in the world, covering 11,035,000 km² (4,260,000 sq mi), just behind that of the United States (11,351,000 km² / 4,383,000 sq mi).
  Over the past 500 years, France has been a major power with strong cultural, economic, military and political influence in Europe and around the world. During the 17th and 18th centuries, France colonised great parts of North America and Southeast Asia; during the 19th and early 20th centuries, France built the second largest colonial empire of the time, including large portions of North, West and Central Africa, Southeast Asia, and many Caribbean and Pacific Islands.
  
  wn.com/France
• 
  Iran
  Coordinates: 32°N 53°E / 32°N 53°E / 32; 53
  Iran (ⁱ/ɪˈrɑːn/ or /aɪˈræn/;Persian: ایران‎ [ʔiˈɾɒn] ( listen)), officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (Persian: جمهوری اسلامی ایران‎ Jomhuri-ye Eslāmi-ye Irān), is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran", which in Persian means "Land of the Aryans", has been in use natively since the Sassanian era. It came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia ( /ˈpɜrʒə/ or /ˈpɜrʃə/). Both "Persia" and "Iran" are used interchangeably in cultural contexts; however, "Iran" is the name used officially in political contexts.
  The 18th-largest country in the world in terms of area at 1,648,195 km² (636,372 sq mi), Iran has a population of around 79 million. It is a country of particular geopolitical significance owing to its location in the Middle East and central Eurasia. Iran is bordered on the north by Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan. As Iran is a littoral state of the Caspian Sea, which is an inland sea, Kazakhstan and Russia are also Iran's direct neighbors to the north. Iran is bordered on the east by Afghanistan and Pakistan, on the south by the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, on the west by Iraq and on the northwest by Turkey. Tehran is the capital, the country's largest city and the political, cultural, commercial and industrial center of the nation. Iran is a regional power, and holds an important position in international energy security and world economy as a result of its large reserves of petroleum and natural gas. Iran has the second largest proven natural gas reserves in the world and the fourth largest proven petroleum reserves.
  
  wn.com/Iran
• 
  Italy
  Italy ⁱ/ˈɪtəli/ (Italian: Italia [iˈtaːlja]), officially the Italian Republic or the Republic of Italy (Italian: Repubblica italiana), is a unitary parliamentary republic in south-central Europe. To the north, it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia along the Alps. To the south, it consists of the entirety of the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Sardinia–the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea–and many other smaller islands. The independent states of San Marino and the Vatican City are enclaves within Italy, while Campione d'Italia is an Italian exclave in Switzerland. The territory of Italy covers some 301,338 km² (116,347 sq mi) and is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. With 60.6 million inhabitants, it is the fifth most populous country in Europe, and the 23rd most populous in the world.
  Rome, the capital of Italy, was for centuries a political and religious centre of Western civilisation as the capital of the Roman Empire and site of the Holy See. After the decline of the Roman Empire, Italy endured numerous invasions by foreign peoples, from Germanic tribes such as the Lombards and Ostrogoths, to the Byzantines and later, the Normans, among others. Centuries later, Italy became the birthplace of Maritime republics and the Renaissance, an immensely fruitful intellectual movement that would prove to be integral in shaping the subsequent course of European thought.
  
  wn.com/Italy
• 
  Montreal
  Montreal (ⁱ/ˌmʌntriːˈɒl/;French: Montréal; pronounced [mɔ̃ʁeal] ( listen)) is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the fifteenth largest in North America. Originally called Ville-Marie, or "City of Mary", the city takes its present name from Mount Royal, the triple-peaked hill located in the heart of the city, or Mont Réal as it was spelled in Middle French (Mont Royal in present French). The city is located on the Island of Montreal, which took its name from the same source as the city, and a few much smaller peripheral islands, the largest of which is Île Bizard.
  As of May 10, 2011, Statistics Canada identifies Montreal's Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) (land area 4,259 square kilometres (1,644 sq mi)) as Canada's second most populous with an estimated metropolitan area population of 3,824,221 and a population of 1,886,481 in the urban agglomeration of Montreal, which includes all of the municipalities on the Island of Montreal. The city of Montreal proper had a population of 1,649,519.
  
  wn.com/Montreal
• 
  Slovenia
  Slovenia (ⁱ/sloʊˈviːniə/ sloh-VEE-nee-ə, Slovene: Slovenija), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Republika Slovenija,  [reˈpublika sloˈveːnija]) is a Slavic nation state, situated in South-Central Europe, at the crossroad of main European cultural and trade routes. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Croatia to the south and southeast, and Hungary to the northeast. It covers 20,273 square kilometres (7,827 sq mi) and has a population of 2.05 million. It is a parliamentary republic, member of the European Union and NATO. Relative to its geography, history, economy, culture, and language, it is a very diverse country distinguished by a transitional character. It is characterised by a high economic and social level. Its capital and largest city is Ljubljana.
  The territory of Slovenia is mainly hilly or mountainous and has an exceptionally high landscape and biological diversity and a mosaic structure, which are a result of natural attributes and the long-lasting presence of humans. Four major European geographic units interweave here: the Alps, the Dinaric Alps, the Mediterranean, with a small portion of coastline along the Adriatic Sea, and the Pannonian Plain. The climate is temperate and significantly influenced by the variety of territory, with a strong interaction of the continental climate, the sub-Mediterranean climate and Alpine climate across most of the country. The country is one of the water-richest in Europe, with a dense river network, a rich aquifer system, and significant karstic underground watercourses. Over half of the territory is covered by forest.
  
  wn.com/Slovenia
• 
  Sparta
  Coordinates: 37°4′55″N 22°25′25″E / 37.08194°N 22.42361°E / 37.08194; 22.42361
  Sparta (Doric Σπάρτα; Attic Σπάρτη Spartē), or Lacedaemon, was a prominent city-state in ancient Greece, situated on the banks of the River Eurotas in Laconia, in south-eastern Peloponnese. It emerged as a political entity around the 10th century BC, when the invading Dorians subjugated the local, non-Dorian population. From c. 650 BC it rose to become the dominant military land-power in ancient Greece.
  Given its military pre-eminence, Sparta was recognized as the overall leader of the combined Greek forces during the Greco-Persian Wars. Between 431 and 404 BC, Sparta was the principal enemy of Athens during the Peloponnesian War, from which it emerged victorious, though at great cost. Sparta's defeat by Thebes in the Battle of Leuctra in 371 BC ended Sparta's prominent role in Greece. However, it maintained its political independence until the Roman conquest of Greece in 146 BC.
  Sparta was unique in ancient Greece for its social system and constitution, which completely focused on military training and excellence. Its inhabitants were classified as Spartiates (Spartan citizens, who enjoyed full rights), Mothakes (non-Spartan free men raised as Spartans), Perioikoi (freedmen), and Helots (state-owned serfs, enslaved non-Spartan local population). Spartiates underwent the rigorous agoge training and education regimen, and Spartan phalanges were widely considered to be among the best in battle. Spartan women enjoyed considerably more rights and equality to men than elsewhere in the classical world.
  
  wn.com/Sparta
• 
  Tehran
  Tehran ( pronunciation (help·info)) (Persian: تهران‎ Tehrān; pronounced [tehˈɾɒːn]), sometimes spelled Teheran, is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. With an estimated population of 8,429,807; it is also Iran's largest urban area and city, the largest city in Western Asia, one of the largest in Southern Asia, and the 19th-largest city globally.
  In the 20th century, Tehran was subject to mass-migration of people from all around Iran. The city is home to many historic mosques, churches, synagogues and Zoroastrian fire temples. Contemporary Tehran is a modern city featuring many structures, of which the Azadi (Freedom) Tower and the Milad Tower have come to be symbols of Tehran itself. In 2008 Tehran was the least expensive capital in the world and the second-least expensive city globally based on the cost-of-living index presenting the best value for money in the world. Globally it stands 19th by city population, 56th by the size of its GDP and 29th by the population of its metropolitan area. Throughout Iran's history, the capital city has been relocated many times, with Tehran being the 32nd national capital of Iran. Persian is the city's native tongue, with roughly 98% of the population able to speak and understand it. The majority of people in Tehran identify themselves as Persians. In pre-Islamic and early Islamic times, Tehran was called Ray (which in the Avesta occurs in the form of Ragha)^{[citation needed]}.
  
  wn.com/Tehran
• 
  Thailand
  Thailand ( /ˈtaɪlænd/ TY-land or /ˈtaɪlənd/;Thai: ประเทศไทย, RTGS: Prathet Thai), officially the Kingdom of Thailand (Thai: ราชอาณาจักรไทย, RTGS: Ratcha Anachak Thai; IPA: [râːt.tɕʰā ʔāːnāːtɕàk tʰāj] ( listen)), formerly known as Siam (Thai: สยาม; RTGS: Sayam), is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the west by the Andaman Sea and the southern extremity of Burma. Its maritime boundaries include Vietnam in the Gulf of Thailand to the southeast, and Indonesia and India in the Andaman Sea to the southwest.
  The country is a constitutional monarchy, headed by King Rama IX, the ninth king of the House of Chakri, who, having reigned since 1946, is the world's longest-serving head of state and the longest-reigning monarch in Thai history. The king of Thailand is titled Head of State, Head of the Armed Forces, the Upholder of the Buddhist religion, and the Defender of all Faiths.
  
  wn.com/Thailand
• 
  Thermopylae
  Thermopylae ( /θərˈmɒpɨliː/; Ancient and Katharevousa Greek Θερμοπύλαι, Demotic Θερμοπύλες: "hot gateways") is a location in Greece where a narrow coastal passage existed in antiquity. It derives its name from its hot sulphur springs. "Hot gates" is also "the place of hot springs and cavernous entrances to Hades".
  Thermopylae is primarily known for the battle that took place there between the Greek forces including the 300 Spartans and the Persian forces, spawning the famous epitaph beginning with "Go tell the Spartans". It is also the locality of the city Anthela (Ἀνθήλη), where the first Amphictyony is mentioned.
  Thermopylae is located in eastern central Greece on the only land route large enough to bear any significant traffic between Lokris and Thessaly. Passage from north to south along the east coast of the Balkan peninsula requires use of the pass. Further west the way is blocked by mountains and the Gulf of Corinth. For this reason the area has been the site of several battles.
  The ancient name of the region was Malis after the Malians (Ancient Greek: Μαλιεῖς), a Greek tribe that resided at the mouth of the river Spercheios in Greece. The Malian Gulf is named after them. In the western valley of the Spercheios, their land was adjacent to the Aenianes. Their main town was Trachis. In the town of Anthela, the Malians had an important temple of Demeter, an early centre of the Anthelan Amphictiony.
  
  wn.com/Thermopylae
• 
  Turkey
  Turkey (Turkish: Türkiye), known officially as the Republic of Turkey ( Türkiye Cumhuriyeti (help·info)), is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia (mostly in the Anatolian peninsula) and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe. Turkey is bordered by eight countries: Bulgaria to the northwest; Greece to the west; Georgia to the northeast; Armenia, Azerbaijan (the exclave of Nakhchivan) and Iran to the east; and Iraq and Syria to the southeast. The Mediterranean Sea and Cyprus are to the south; the Aegean Sea is to the west; and the Black Sea is to the north. The Sea of Marmara, the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles (which together form the Turkish Straits) demarcate the boundary between East Thrace and Anatolia; they also separate Europe and Asia.
  Turkey is one of the six independent Turkic states. The vast majority of the population are Muslims. The country's official language is Turkish, whereas Kurdish and Zazaki languages are spoken by Kurds and Zazas, who constitute 18% of the population.
  
  wn.com/Turkey
• 
  Uzbekistan
  Uzbekistan ⁱ/ʊzˌbɛkɨˈstɑːn/, officially the Republic of Uzbekistan (Uzbek: O‘zbekiston Respublikasi, Ўзбекистон Республикаси) is the only doubly landlocked country in Central Asia and one of only two such countries worldwide. It shares borders with Kazakhstan to the west and to the north, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the east, and Afghanistan and Turkmenistan to the south. Before 1991, it was part of the Soviet Union.
  Uzbekistan is one of the Turkic states in Central Asia.
  Once part of the Persian Samanid and later Timurid empires, the region was conquered in the early 16th century by Uzbek nomads, who spoke an Eastern Turkic language. Most of Uzbekistan’s population today belong to the Uzbek ethnic group and speak the Uzbek language, one of the family of Turkic languages.
  Uzbekistan was incorporated into the Russian Empire in the 19th century, and in 1924 became a constituent republic of the Soviet Union, known as the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic (Uzbek SSR). It became independent on 31 August 1991 (officially, from the following day).
  
  wn.com/Uzbekistan

• 
  Adolf Hitler
  Adolf Hitler (German: [ˈadɔlf ˈhɪtlɐ] ( listen); 20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party (German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NSDAP), commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945 and dictator of Nazi Germany (as Führer und Reichskanzler) from 1934 to 1945. Hitler is commonly associated with the rise of fascism in Europe, World War II, and the Holocaust.
  A decorated veteran of World War I, Hitler joined the German Workers' Party, precursor of the Nazi Party, in 1919, and became leader of the NSDAP in 1921. In 1923, he attempted a coup d'état, known as the Beer Hall Putsch, in Munich. The failed coup resulted in Hitler's imprisonment, during which time he wrote his memoir, Mein Kampf (My Struggle). After his release in 1924, Hitler gained popular support by attacking the Treaty of Versailles and promoting Pan-Germanism, antisemitism, and anticommunism with charismatic oratory and Nazi propaganda. After his appointment as chancellor in 1933, he transformed the Weimar Republic into the Third Reich, a single-party dictatorship based on the totalitarian and autocratic ideology of Nazism. His aim was to establish a New Order of absolute Nazi German hegemony in continental Europe.
  
  wn.com/Adolf_Hitler
• 
  Aeschylus
  Aeschylus (Ancient Greek: Αἰσχύλος, Aiskhulos; c. 525/524 BC – c. 456/455 BC) was the first of the three ancient Greek tragedians whose plays can still be read or performed, the others being Sophocles and Euripides. He is often described as the father of tragedy: our knowledge of the genre begins with his work and our understanding of earlier tragedies is largely based on inferences from his surviving plays. According to Aristotle, he expanded the number of characters in plays to allow for conflict amongst them whereas, previously, characters had interacted only with the chorus.
  Only seven of his estimated seventy to ninety plays have survived into modern times, and there is a longstanding debate about his authorship of one of these plays, Prometheus Bound. Fragments of some other plays have survived in quotes and more continue to be discovered on Egyptian papyrus, often giving us surprising insights into his work. He was probably the first dramatist to present plays as a trilogy and his Oresteia is the only ancient example of the form to have survived.
  
  wn.com/Aeschylus
• Andrew Pleavin
  Andrew Pleavin (born 13 April 1968) is an English actor known for his appearances in the TV film Attila, Unstoppable, Batman Begins, Attack of the Gryphon, Return to House on Haunted Hill and his roles in the British police dramas Messiah III: the Promise and The Bill. In February 2006, he was cast in 300 by Frank Miller, a film in which he plays a character called Daxos. Andrew was born in England but spent his early years in Transvaal, South Africa. He returned to the UK and to the Wirral in Northern England, aged 12, and received a black belt status in martial arts at the age of 18 after six years of training in Liverpool and London.
  From 1993 to 1996, he trained at the London Drama Centre.
  
  
  
  wn.com/Andrew_Pleavin
• Andrew Tiernan
  Andrew James Tiernan (born 30 November 1965 in Birmingham, Warwickshire) is an English actor.
  Tiernan began acting with the Birmingham Youth Theatre and moved to London in 1984 to study a three-year Diploma in Acting at the Drama Centre London run by Christopher Fettes and Yat Malmgren. His theatre work has included Joe Penhall's The Bullet at the Donmar Warehouse, and a long-term collaboration with the Tony-nominated director Wilson Milam, including Ché Walker's Flesh Wound at the Royal Court Theatre and two critically acclaimed productions of Sam Shepard plays; A Lie of the Mind at the Donmar Warehouse and True West at the Bristol Old Vic. In 2008, Tiernan returned to the theatre in Dorota Maslowska's "A Couple of Poor, Polish-Speaking Romanians" at the Soho Theatre.
  Tiernan played Piers Gaveston in Derek Jarman's controversial film of Christopher Marlowe's Edward II in 1991, after appearing in Lynda La Plante's award-winning drama Prime Suspect. In the same year, he went on to star as Orlando and Oliver in Christine Edzard's version of Shakespeare's As You Like It playing alongside actors James Fox and Cyril Cusack.
  
  wn.com/Andrew_Tiernan
• Azadeh Moaveni
  Azadeh Moaveni (Persian: آزاده معاونى‎, born 1976 in Palo Alto, California) is an Iranian-American journalist and writer.
  Moaveni grew up in San Jose, California, and studied politics at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She won a Fulbright Fellowship to Egypt, and studied Arabic at the American University in Cairo.
  For three years, Azadeh Moaveni worked across the Middle East as a reporter for Time, before joining the Los Angeles Times to cover the war in Iraq. On February 4, 2005 Azadeh released her first book, a memoir entitled Lipstick Jihad, which details her time in Iran and the quest to discover more about her cultural identity. She co-authored Iran Awakening with Shirin Ebadi. She is married and lives in London with her husband and son, and reports on Iran and the Middle East for Time. She recently worked with editor David Ebershoff on a new memoir, Honeymoon in Tehran: Two years of love and danger in Iran, for Random House, published on April 13, 2009.
  
  
  
  wn.com/Azadeh_Moaveni
• 
  Azam Ali
  Azam Ali (Persian: اعظم علی‎) is an Iranian American musician.
  Born in Tehran, Iran 1970, Ali spent most of her childhood in Panchgani, India. Ali and her mother moved to Los Angeles, California in 1985, after which Ali discovered the santour. Ali then studied the santour under Persian master Manoocher Sadeghi, which led to the rediscovery of her voice. She is now living in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
  In 1996, Ali formed "alternative world" group VAS with percussionist Greg Ellis after meeting the year prior at a concert at UCLA. She and her husband, Loga Ramin Torkian, are also part of another group, Niyaz, an Iranian acoustic electronic group. In 2005, Azam Ali was featured in Enter The Chicken, a Buckethead album, singing the song "Coma" with Serj Tankian.
  In 2002, Ali released her first solo album, Portals of Grace. This was followed up with 2006's Elysium for the Brave, which reached #10 on Billboard's World Albums chart on 23 September 2006. Ali's most recent release, 2011's From Night to the Edge of Day, is a collection of lullabies inspired by her son.
  
  wn.com/Azam_Ali
• 
  Batman
  Batman is a fictional character, a comic book superhero created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. The character first appeared in Detective Comics #27 (May 1939), and since then has appeared primarily in publications by DC Comics. Originally referred to as "The Bat-Man" and still referred to at times as "The Batman", he is additionally known as "The Caped Crusader", "The Dark Knight", and "The World's Greatest Detective," among other titles.
  In the original version of the story and the vast majority of retellings, Batman's secret identity is Bruce Wayne, an American millionaire (later billionaire) playboy, industrialist, and philanthropist. Having witnessed the murder of his parents as a child, he swore revenge on criminals, an oath tempered with the greater ideal of justice. Wayne trains himself both physically and intellectually and dons a bat-themed costume in order to fight crime. Batman operates in the fictional American Gotham City, assisted by various supporting characters including his crime-fighting partner, Robin, his butler Alfred Pennyworth, the police commissioner Jim Gordon, and occasionally the heroine Batgirl. He fights an assortment of villains such as the Joker, the Penguin, the Riddler, Two-Face, Poison Ivy and Catwoman. Unlike most superheroes, he does not possess any superpowers; he makes use of intellect, detective skills, science and technology, wealth, physical prowess, martial arts skills, an indomitable will, fear, and intimidation in his continuous war on crime.
  
  wn.com/Batman
• Captain America
  Captain America is a fictional character, a superhero who appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Captain America Comics #1 (cover-dated March 1941), from Marvel Comics' 1940s predecessor, Timely Comics, and was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. As of 2007, an estimated 210 million copies of "Captain America" comic books had been sold in 75 countries. For nearly all of the character's publication history, Captain America was the alter ego of Steve Rogers, a frail young man who was enhanced to the peak of human perfection by an experimental serum in order to aid the United States war effort. Captain America wears a costume that bears an American flag motif, and is armed with an indestructible shield that can be thrown as a weapon.
  An intentionally patriotic creation who was often depicted fighting the Axis powers of World War II, Captain America was Timely Comics' most popular character during the wartime period. After the war ended, the character's popularity waned and he disappeared by the 1950s aside from an ill-fated revival in 1953. Captain America was reintroduced during the Silver Age of comics when he was revived from suspended animation by the superhero team the Avengers in The Avengers #4 (March 1964). Since then, Captain America has often led the team, as well as starring in his own series.
  
  wn.com/Captain_America
• 
  Chris Watts
  Chris Watts (born June 16, 1965), is an American inventor, businessman, award winning filmmaker and Visual Effects Supervisor.
  Currently the President of Bake Visual Effects, Inc. located in Los Angeles, California, he began his film career with Dream Quest Images in 1989. Watts originated, invented and implemented the Digital intermediate process in 1995 when filming the New Line Cinema feature, Pleasantville (1998).
  Later in 2004, he also pioneered the use of digital still cameras as a high resolution replacement for film cameras on Tim Burton's stop motion animated movie The Corpse Bride. Watts gained wide recognition with the 2007 box office hit, 300, a Warner Bros. action film adapted from the graphic novel of the same name by writer-artist Frank Miller of Dark Horse Comics miniseries.
  He later went on supervising the 2009 fantasy film, Where the Wild Things Are. Watts' innovations and research in the visual effects industry continue to revolutionize the movie production process and influence filmmaking today.
  
  wn.com/Chris_Watts
• 
  Chroma key
  Chroma key compositing, or chroma keying, is a special effects / post-production technique for compositing (layering) two images or video streams together, used heavily in many fields to remove a background from the subject of a photo or video - particularly the newscasting, motion picture and videogame industries. A color range in the top layer is made transparent, revealing another image behind. The chroma keying technique is commonly used in video production and post-production. This technique is also referred to as color keying, colour-separation overlay (CSO; primarily by the BBC), or by various terms for specific color-related variants such as green screen, and blue screen - chroma keying can be done with backgrounds of any color that are uniform and distinct, but green and blue backgrounds are more commonly used because they differ most distinctly in hue from most human skin colors and no part of the subject being filmed or photographed may duplicate a color used in the background. It is commonly used for weather forecast broadcasts, wherein the news presenter appears to be standing in front of a large map during live television newscasts, though in actuality it is a large blue or green background. When using a blue screen, different weather maps are added on the parts of the image where the color is blue. If the news presenter wears blue clothes, his clothes will also be replaced with the background video. A complementary system is used for green screens. Chroma keying is also used in the entertainment industry for special effects in movies and videogames. The advanced state of the technology and much commercially available computer software, such as Pinnacle Studio, Adobe Premiere, and dozens of other computer programs, makes it possible and relatively easy for the average home computer user to create videos using the "chromakey" function and easily affordable greenscreen or bluescreen kits.
  
  wn.com/Chroma_key
• 
  Chuck Liddell
  Charles David "Chuck" Liddell (born December 17, 1969) is a retired American mixed martial artist and former Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight champion. Liddell has an extensive striking background in Kempo, Koei-Kan karate and kickboxing, as well as a grappling background in collegiate wrestling. Liddell is known for his Knockout power, Iron chin, Excellent counter striking and for his sprawl-and-brawl technique, which made him one of the most difficult fighters to takedown. He is one of the most dominant champions that ever competed in the UFC. He still holds the record for the most knockouts in UFC history. As of his retirement, Liddell has had 23 fights in the UFC. Along with fellow UFC Hall of Fame fighter Randy Couture, Liddell is widely credited for bringing mixed martial arts into the mainstream of American sports and entertainment. On July 10, 2009, he was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame.
  Liddell began studying Koei-Kan karate at the age of 12; the tattoo seen on his scalp reads "Koei-Kan". Liddell was a four-year starter on the football team at San Marcos High School. While growing up in Santa Barbara, he often frequented the infamous Del Playa Drive, the middle of the party scene of the college town of Isla Vista, where he often found himself in fights with drunk college students. He became a Division I wrestler at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Business/Accounting in 1995. He holds an amateur kickboxing record of 20 wins and 2 losses, with 16 of his wins coming by way of knockout.
  
  wn.com/Chuck_Liddell
• 
  David Wenham
  David Wenham (born 21 September 1965) is an Australian actor who has appeared in movies, television series and theatre productions. He is known in Hollywood for his roles as Faramir in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, Carl in Van Helsing and Dilios in 300 and Neil Fletcher in Australia. He is also known in his native Australia for his role as Diver Dan in SeaChange.
  Wenham was born in Marrickville, Sydney, Australia, the son of Kath and Bill Wenham. He has five older sisters; Helen, Anne, Carmel, Kathryn, and Maree; and one older brother, Peter. David was raised in the Roman Catholic faith and attended Christian Brothers' High School, Lewisham. He worked as a bingo caller and an insurance clerk before becoming successful as an actor.
  Wenham started his career as an actor after graduating from Theatre Nepean at the University of Western Sydney in 1987. Wenham's television credits include several telemovies, such as his AFI award winning role in the 1996 telemovie Simone de Beauvoir's Babies; and his role as the outwardly laid back but deeply enigmatic diver Dan Della Bosca in the 1998 and 1999 seasons of the highly successful ABC television series SeaChange. His role as "Diver Dan" has made the actor something of a sex symbol, although he dislikes thinking of himself as such, and he has been voted Australia's "sexiest man alive". A portrait of Wenham by artist Adam Cullen won the Archibald Prize in 2000. Wenham is signed to Storm Model Management in London.
  
  wn.com/David_Wenham
• Dienekes
  Dienekes or Dieneces (Greek: Διηνέκης, died 480 BC) was a Spartan soldier present at the Battle of Thermopylae. He was acclaimed the bravest of all the three hundred Spartiates selected to fight in that battle. Herodotus related the following anecdote about Dienekes:
  Dienekes is one of the main characters in Steven Pressfield's novel Gates of Fire. He does not appear in the 1962 film The 300 Spartans; his famous line is delivered instead by King Leonidas himself in reply to a threat from the Persian general Hydarnes (the same scene also includes Leonidas' famous phrase, Molōn labe). He also does not appear in Frank Miller's graphic novel 300 or the film based on it; his famous quip is delivered instead by the fictional character Stelios. Moreover, Stelios makes the remark in response to a Persian taunt, not the statement of a fellow Greek.
  In his honor, the street on the left of the empty tomb (κενοτάφιο) of King Leonidas I in Sparta is named after him.
  
  wn.com/Dienekes
• Diodorus Siculus
  Diodorus Siculus (^{[pronunciation?]}; Greek: Διόδωρος Σικελιώτης, Diodoros Sikeliotes) was a Greek historian who flourished between 60 and 30 BC. According to Diodorus' own work, he was born at Agyrium in Sicily (now called Agira). With one exception, antiquity affords no further information about Diodorus' life and doings beyond what is to be found in his own work, Bibliotheca historica. Only Jerome, in his Chronicon under the "year of Abraham 1968" (i.e., 49 BC), writes, "Diodorus of Sicily, a writer of Greek history, became illustrious". His English translator, Charles Henry Oldfather, remarks on the "striking coincidence" that one of only two known Greek inscriptions from Agyrium (I.G. XIV, 588) is the tombstone of one "Diodorus, the son of Apollonius".
  Diodorus' universal history, which he named Bibliotheca historica ("Historical Library"), consisted of 40 books, of which 1–5 and 11–20 survive, and were divided into three sections. The first six books treat the mythic history of the non-Hellenic and Hellenic tribes to the destruction of Troy and are geographical in theme, and describe the history and culture of Ancient Egypt (book I), of Mesopotamia, India, Scythia, and Arabia (II), of North Africa (III), and of Greece and Europe (IV–VI).
  
  wn.com/Diodorus_Siculus
• 
  Dominic West
  Dominic Gerard Fe West (born 15 October 1969) is an English actor best known for his role as Detective Jimmy McNulty in the HBO drama series The Wire.
  West made his debut in 1991 in a short called 3 Joes.^{[citation needed]} His other screen appearances include True Blue, Chicago and Mona Lisa Smile. His most notable television role has been Baltimore police detective Jimmy McNulty on the HBO television police drama The Wire. West was praised for the accuracy of his character's accent.
  During his stint on The Wire, West directed the season 5 episode, "Took".
  In film, he portrayed the heavy metal guitarist Kirk Cuddy in the 2001 film Rock Star. In 2006 West made a guest appearance as an actor in a sketch in The Catherine Tate Show, alongside "Frankie Howerd impressionist". In 2007, he played the Spartan politician Theron in 300. West also starred in the 1999 film version of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream as Lysander.
  West appeared in the role of Oliver Cromwell in the Channel 4 series The Devil's Whore. West played the villain, Jigsaw, in the 2008 film Punisher: War Zone. He also features in "Dr. West", the opening track on Eminem's 2009 album Relapse, as a doctor discharging Eminem from a rehab facility. West played the part over the phone in January 2009 while Eminem was recording it in a Miami studio.
  
  wn.com/Dominic_West
• Elliot Goldenthal
  Elliot Goldenthal (born May 2, 1954) is an American composer of contemporary classical music. He was a student of Aaron Copland and John Corigliano, and is best known for his distinctive style and ability to blend various musical styles and techniques in original and inventive ways. He is also a film-music composer, and won the Academy Award for Best Original Score in 2002 for his score to the motion picture Frida, directed by his long-time partner Julie Taymor.
  Goldenthal was born on May 2, 1954, as the youngest son of a Jewish housepainter father and a Catholic seamstress mother in Brooklyn, New York City, where he was influenced from an early age by music from all cultures and genres. Both pairs of Goldenthal's grandparents emigrated to the United States from Bucharest and Iași, Romania. Goldenthal lived in a multi-cultural part of town, and this is reflected in his works. He attended John Dewey High School in Brooklyn where, at the age of 14, he had his very first ballet Variations on Early Glimpses performed; he continued to display his eclectic musical range, performing with rock bands in the seventies.^{[citation needed]} He then studied music full time at the prestigious Manhattan School of Music, where he studied with composer John Corigliano (whom he greatly admired), to earn his Bachelor of Music degree (1977) and Master of Music (1979) in musical composition.^{[not in citation given]}
  
  wn.com/Elliot_Goldenthal
• Ephialtes of Trachis
  Ephialtes of Trachis (Ancient Greek: Ἐφιάλτης, Ephialtēs; although Herodotus spelled it as Ἐπιάλτης, Epialtes) was the son of Eurydemus of Malis. He betrayed his homeland by showing the Persian forces a path around the allied Greek position at the pass of Thermopylae, which helped them win the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC.
  The allied Greek land forces, which Herodotus states numbered no more than 4,200 men, had chosen Thermopylae to block the advance of the vastly numerically superior Persian army. Although this gap between the Trachinian Cliffs and the Malian Gulf was only "wide enough for a single carriage", it could be bypassed by a trail which led over the mountains south of Thermopylae and joined the main road behind the Greek position. Herodotus notes that this trail was well-known to the locals, who had used it in the past for raiding the neighbouring Phocians.
  Herodotus notes that two other men were accused of betraying this trail to the Persians: Onetas, a native of Carystus and son of Phanagoras; and Corydallus, a native of Anticyra. Nevertheless, he argues Ephialtes was the one who revealed this trail because "the deputies of the Greeks, the Pylagorae, who must have had the best means for ascertaining the truth, did not offer the reward on the heads of Onetas and Corydallus, but for that of Ephialtes of Trachis."
  
  wn.com/Ephialtes_of_Trachis
• Gabriel Yared
  Gabriel Yared (born 7 October 1949) is a Lebanese composer, best known for his work in French and American cinema.
  Born in Beirut, Lebanon, his work in France included the scores for Betty Blue and Camille Claudel. He later began working on English language films, particularly those directed by Anthony Minghella. He won an Oscar and a Grammy Award for his work on The English Patient (1996) and was also nominated for The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) and Cold Mountain (2003).
  At the age of 7, his father sent Yared to an accordion teacher. Two years later he stopped his accordion lessons and started music theory and piano lessons. His piano teacher thought that he had no future in music.
  Although he was not a natural pianist, he was interested in reading music.
  At the age of 14, his piano teacher died, so he was to replace him as the organist of Université Saint-Joseph. He used the university's library to read all the work of Bach, Schumann, and many others. This extensive reading inspired his first original composition, a piano waltz.
  
  wn.com/Gabriel_Yared
• 
  Gerard Butler
  Gerard James Butler (born 13 November 1969) is a Scottish actor who has appeared on film, stage, and television. A trained lawyer, Butler turned to acting in the mid-1990s with small roles in productions such as the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), which he followed with steady work on television, most notably in the American miniseries Attila (2001). He garnered critical acclaim for his work as the lead in Joel Schumacher's 2004 film adaptation of the musical The Phantom of the Opera. In 2007, Butler gained recognition through his portrayal of King Leonidas in the film 300. Since then, he has appeared in projects including P.S. I Love You (2007), Nim's Island (2008), RocknRolla (2008), The Ugly Truth (2009), Gamer (2009), Law Abiding Citizen (2009), The Bounty Hunter (2010), and as a voice actor in How to Train Your Dragon (2010).
  Butler was born in Paisley, which is in Renfrewshire, Scotland, the youngest of three children of Margaret and Edward Butler, a bookmaker. Of Irish descent, he was brought up in a strict Roman Catholic family. Butler spent the first few years of his life in Montreal, Quebec, before the family returned to live in Scotland.
  
  wn.com/Gerard_Butler
• 
  Heaven Shall Burn
  Heaven Shall Burn is a German heavy metal band from Saalfeld, formed in 1996. They combine an aggressive metal sound with lyrics that show a militant support of anti-racism and fighting social injustice. All members of the band are vegan.
  Heaven Shall Burn was formed in Autumn 1996, under the name Consense. With the recording of its second demo in early 1997, the band changed its name to Heaven Shall Burn. The name is taken from a Marduk album titled Heaven Shall Burn... When We Are Gathered. In an interview, the band said, "It's not that we're huge Marduk fans, but we liked the name. It sounds a bit provoking and so people ask us again and again for the meaning behind our name. It has been like that since the very beginning. We use the term heaven as a metaphor for some kind of a fake paradise that people create in their heads. Some people close their eyes and don't see the truth surrounding them. So this kind of fake heaven should burn. Some people might think that our name is an anti-religious statement, but it isn't."
  
  wn.com/Heaven_Shall_Burn
• 
  Herodotus
  Herodotus ( /hɨˈrɒdətəs/; Ancient Greek: Ἡρόδοτος Hēródotos) was an ancient Greek historian who was born in Halicarnassus, Caria (modern day Bodrum, Turkey) and lived in the fifth century BC (circa 484 – 425 BC). He has been called the "Father of History", and was the first historian known to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain extent and arrange them in a well-constructed and vivid narrative.The Histories—his masterpiece and the only work he is known to have produced—is a record of his "inquiry" (or ἱστορία historía, a word that passed into Latin and acquired its modern meaning of "history"), being an investigation of the origins of the Greco-Persian Wars and including a wealth of geographical and ethnographical information. Although some of his stories were fanciful, he claimed he was reporting only what had been told to him. Little is known of his personal history.
  The Histories, otherwise known as The Researches or The Inquiries, were divided by later Alexandrian editors into nine books, named after the nine Muses: the "Muse of History", Clio, representing the first book, then Euterpe, Thaleia, Melpomene, Terpsichore, Erato, Polymnia, Ourania and Calliope for books 2 to 9, respectively. At its simplest and broadest level of meaning, The Histories is structured as a dynastic history of four Persian kings:
  
  wn.com/Herodotus
• James Horner
  James Roy Horner (born August 14, 1953) is an American composer, orchestrator, and conductor of orchestral and film music. He is noted for the integration of choral and electronic elements in many of his film scores, and for frequent use of Celtic musical elements. His score to the 1997 film Titanic remains the best selling orchestral film soundtrack of all time.
  In addition, Horner has scored over 100 films, frequently collaborating with acclaimed directors such as James Cameron and Ron Howard. Some of his most noteworthy works include Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982), Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984), Cocoon (1985), An American Tail (1986), Aliens (1986), The Land Before Time (1988), Willow (1988), Glory (1989), Field of Dreams (1989), The Rocketeer (1991), Legends of the Fall (1994), Apollo 13 (1995), Braveheart (1995), The Mask of Zorro (1998), A Beautiful Mind (2001), Troy (2004), and Avatar (2009).
  Horner has won two Academy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, three Satellite Awards, three Saturn Awards, and has been nominated for three BAFTA Awards. His body of work is also notable for including the scores to the two highest-grossing films of all time; Titanic (1997) and Avatar (2009), both of which were directed by James Cameron.
  
  wn.com/James_Horner
• Jordu Schell
  Jordu Schell is a renowned American sculptor and concept artist who has been working in the film and television industries for over twenty years.
  Jordu Schell began his career as a sculptor and Halloween mask maker. He primarily sculpts in clay and other physical materials, rather than in CGI or in 2-D drawings, although he works in those forms as well.
  Schell first started designing FX for Hollywood on Bride of Re-Animator, and went on from there to work with Stan Winston on such movies as Predator 2, Edward Scissorhands, and Batman Returns. In television, he designed aliens for the opening season of Babylon 5.
  From 2005-2007, Schell was instrumental in the design of the Na'vi and other creatures in James Cameron's movie Avatar, shaping the designs of the characters with physical sculptures when Cameron felt that the CGI designs were not capturing his vision. Schell sculpted numerous maquettes to help solidify the look of the Na'vi race, often working in the kitchen of Cameron's Malibu home.
  
  wn.com/Jordu_Schell
• Kelly Craig
  Kelly Craig (born October 1984) is a Canadian model and actress from Montreal.
  She is best known for her work in modeling. She was featured in the April 2006 edition of ELLE Canada and ELLE Québec.
  Her first movie role was as a stunt double for fellow model and actress Bridget Moynahan, in the 2000 movie Coyote Ugly. Her first character role however, was in the 2007 film adaption of Frank Miller's graphic novel 300.
  In 300 she plays the role of the Oracle, a young Spartan girl who was chosen for her beauty and is guarded by the old Ephors, being frequently molested by them. Her words, spoken in a trance, are interpreted by the corrupt priests as a message that the gods do not want King Leonidas to break the Carneia and attack the Persians. Although she appears only briefly in the film, a still from the film of her in a state of trance is featured as the sole image on one of the movie posters.
  
  
  
  wn.com/Kelly_Craig
• Kenneth Turan
  Kenneth Turan ( /təˈræn/; born October 27, 1946) is an American film critic and Lecturer in the Master of Professional Writing Program at the University of Southern California.
  Turan was born in Brooklyn, New York. He received his B.S. in history from Swarthmore College in 1967 and M.S. from Columbia University in 1968. From 1969-1978 he was a sports writer and feature writer for the Washington Post. He also served as film critic for a number of publications including The Progressive, New West/California Magazine, Gentlemen's Quarterly, and E!Entertainment.
  He has been a film critic for the Los Angeles Times since 1991 and the Director for the Los Angeles Times Book Prizes, Los Angeles Times since 1993. He is the founding film critic for Arts Alive on KUSC-FM and www.kusc.org. He also provides regular reviews for Morning Edition on National Public Radio
  Kenneth Turan is featured in the documentary For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism discussing his famous public quarrel with James Cameron, and recalling how Cameron e-mailed the LA Times’s editors calling for Turan’s firing after Turan wrote a negative review of Titanic.
  
  wn.com/Kenneth_Turan
• Kyle Smith
  
  
  Kyle Smith (born 1966) is an American critic, novelist and essayist. He is a staff film critic for the New York Post. His film reviewing style has been called "an exercise in hilarious hostility" by Entertainment Weekly and he has been dubbed "America's most cantankerous film critic" by The Atlantic. He has also contributed to The Wall Street Journal,People magazine,New York magazine, The New York Times, and The Weekly Standard.
  Smith was graduated from East Longmeadow (Massachusetts) High School in 1984. Following that, he was graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Yale University, and is a former U.S. Army lieutenant and veteran of the Persian Gulf War. From 1996 to 2005 he worked at People magazine, where he was the editor of the book and music reviews.
  Kyle Smith has published two books in addition to criticism, newspaper and magazine features and essays.
  His first book, Love Monkey, a comic novel about a cynical, self-deprecating journalist named Tom Farrell and his romantic tribulations in New York City, was published by William Morrow in 2004. A New York Times article cast the book as a guys' version of such popular novels as Bridget Jones's Diary and Melissa Bank's, The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing and cited Nick Hornby's books About a Boy and High Fidelity as inspiration for Love Monkey. Times critic Janet Maslin called the book "hilarious".Entertainment Weekly called the book "relentlessly cynical" and concluded that "'Monkey,' like the paper Tom writes for, is loud and brash, but a helluva lot of fun".Time magazine said, "You couldn't ask for a more entertaining drinking buddy--watch out for a memorable strip-club meltdown scene--but there's a deep, dark subway of despair running underneath his riffs, and that's what makes the book more than a standup routine....'Love Monkey' nails it."
  
  wn.com/Kyle_Smith
• Larry Fong
  Larry Fong is an American cinematographer born in Los Angeles, California. He showed interest and talent in art at a young age. His experience in photography and film was self-taught, beginning in junior high with short films shot on Super 8, cel animation, and stop motion projects. He graduated from UCLA with a B.A. in Linguistics and Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, specializing in film and photography.
  He began his professional career filming music videos. In shooting three winners of the MTV Video Music Award for Video of the Year (for R.E.M., Van Halen, and Goo Goo Dolls), he garnered more attention which resulted in him filming two independent films and various TV pilots, commercials, and shorts.
  In 2004 he was hired to film the Lost pilot, for which he was nominated for an ASC Award.
  2007 saw the release of his first studio film, 300, directed by Zack Snyder.
  In 2011 he was accepted into the American Society of Cinematographers.
  He is an accomplished magician.
  In 2005, he was nominated for an ASC Award for "Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in Movies of the Week/Mini-Series/Pilot for Broadcast TV" for the pilot episode of Lost (2004).
  
  wn.com/Larry_Fong
• 
  Lena Headey
  Lena Headey (born 3 October 1973) is an English actress. Headey's performance in a one-off show when she was 17 caught the attention of a casting agent, who took a photo and asked her to audition and eventually she got a supporting role alongside Jeremy Irons and Ethan Hawke in the 1992 British drama film Waterland and went on to appear with higher-profile actors in major films such as The Remains of the Day (1993), The Jungle Book (1994), Onegin (1999) and Aberdeen (2000).
  After working steadily as an actress getting small and supporting roles in films throughout the 1990s, she found fame for her lead performances in big-budget motion pictures that became well-known like the fantasy film The Brothers Grimm (2005), in which she acted opposite Matt Damon and Heath Ledger, the action period film 300 (2007), portraying the role of Queen Gorgo and the adventure and biopic feature The Red Baron (2008).
  She is known for playing the starring role Sarah Connor on Fox's television spin-off of James Cameron's popular Terminator film series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (2008–2009). She currently appears as Cersei Lannister in HBO's television series Game of Thrones (2011), which has received universal acclaim from both critics and audience.
  
  wn.com/Lena_Headey
• 
  Leonidas I
  Leonidas I (/liːˈɒnɨdəs/ lee-ON-i-dəs or /liːˈɒn.ɨ.dæs/; Doric and Modern Greek: Λεωνίδας, Leōnidas; Ionic Greek: Λεωνίδης, Leōnidēs; "son of the lion"; died 9 August 480 BCE) was a Greek hero-king of Sparta, the 17th of the Agiad line, one of the sons of King Anaxandridas II of Sparta, who was believed in mythology to be a descendant of Heracles, possessing much of the latter's strength and bravery. Leonidas I is notable for his leadership at the Battle of Thermopylae.
  According to Herodotus, Leonidas' mother was his father's niece and had been barren for so long that the ephors, the five annually elected administrators of the Spartan constitution, tried to prevail upon King Anaxandridas to set aside his wife and take another. Anaxandridas refused, claiming his wife was blameless, whereupon the ephors agreed to allow him to take a second wife without setting aside his first. This second wife, a descendent of Chilon the Wise, promptly bore a son, Cleomenes. However, one year after Cleomenes' birth, Anaxandridas' first wife also gave birth to a son, Dorieus. Leonidas was the third son of Anaxandridas' first wife, and either the elder brother or twin of Cleombrotus. Because Leonidas was not heir to the throne, he was not exempt from attending the agoge, the public school that the sons of all Spartans had to complete in order to qualify for citizenship. Leonidas was thus one of the few Spartan kings to have ever undergone the notoriously harsh training of Spartan youth.
  
  wn.com/Leonidas_I
• 
  Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
  Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (Persian: محمود احمدی‌نژاد‎, Mahmūd Ahmadinezhād [mæhˈmuːd(-e) æhmædiːneˈʒɒːd] ( listen),English: /ɑːkməˈdɪnɨʒɒd/; born 28 October 1956) is the sixth and current President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the main political leader of the Alliance of Builders of Islamic Iran, a coalition of conservative political groups in the country. An engineer and teacher from a poor background, Ahmadinejad joined the Office for Strengthening Unity after the Islamic Revolution. Appointed a provincial governor, he was removed after the election of President Mohammad Khatami and returned to teaching. Tehran's council elected him mayor in 2003. He took a religious hard line, reversing reforms of previous moderate mayors. His 2005 presidential campaign, supported by the Alliance of Builders of Islamic Iran, garnered 62% of the runoff election votes, and he became President on 3 August 2005. His second presidency term ends on August 3, 2013. He is not eligible to run for another term under the current Iranian constitution.
  
  wn.com/Mahmoud_Ahmadinejad
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  Mark Canton
  Mark Canton (born 19 June 1949) is an American film producer and executive.
  Canton was born in Queens, New York, the son of Shirley Canton and Arthur Canton, who worked in the film industry on marketing and publicity, e.g. for Lawrence of Arabia. As a young adult, Mark Canton met well known movie people like Alfred Hitchcock and David Lean, and Doris Day visited the family's apartment. After working in the mail room of Warner Bros. while studying at the University of California at Los Angeles, Canton started working for 20th Century Fox and later had jobs with film director Franklin Schaffner, with producer Jon Peters and in the 1970s as executive assistant to Mike Medavoy at United Artists, before working as executive vice president at Warner Bros. from 1980 on. Successes he was involved in at the time include 1983's National Lampoon's Vacation, Purple Rain, and the Batman and Lethal Weapon series, but also notorious box office failures like The Bonfire of the Vanities from 1990, a picture he described as "the best movie I ever saw" at its first screening.
  
  wn.com/Mark_Canton
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  Michael Fassbender
  Michael Fassbender (born 2 April 1977) is an Irish-German actor. He is perhaps best known for having played Lieutenant Archie Hicox in the war film Inglourious Basterds (2009), Magneto in the superhero film X-Men: First Class (2011), and the android David in the science fiction film Prometheus.
  His other credits include the fantasy action film 300 (2007); the drama film Fish Tank (2009); the romantic drama film Jane Eyre (2011); the historical film A Dangerous Method (2011), directed by David Cronenberg, in which he plays psychologist Carl Jung; as well as the biographical film Hunger (2008) and the drama film Shame (2011), both directed by Steve McQueen. For his role in Shame, he won the Volpi Cup best-actor award at the 68th Venice International Film Festival held in August 2011 along with being nominated for a Golden Globe Award and BAFTA.
  Fassbender was born in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, West Germany (now Germany). His mother is from Larne, County Antrim in Northern Ireland, and his father, Josef Fassbender, is German. According to Fassbender's "family lore", his mother is the great-great-niece of Michael Collins, an Irish leader during the War of Independence. When he was two years old, his parents moved to Killarney, County Kerry, in the Republic of Ireland, where they ran the West End House, a restaurant where his father worked as a chef. Fassbender was brought up as a Roman Catholic and served as an altar boy.
  
  wn.com/Michael_Fassbender
• Patrick Sabongui
  Patrick Sabongui (born January 9, 1975) is a Canadian actor and stuntman who has made his career as an actor, stunt performer, theatre actor and drama teacher. He also spent several years working live stunt shows in Southern California.
  He was born in Montreal, Quebec to Egyptian parents. His father, Wadid Sabongui, is a psychologist, and his mother, Leila Rizkalla, is a French educator and librarian. He has a sister named Marie-Marguerite Sabongui and three older brothers: Rami Joseph Sabongui, Amir Georges Sabongui and Camille Anthony Sabongui.
  Patrick obtained a Master's degree in acting from the University of California (Irvine) and a BFA in Drama for Human Development at Concordia University (Montreal).
  Patrick now lives in Los Angeles and Vancouver with his wife, Kyra Zagorsky, whom he married 5 August 2002, and his two children, a daughter, Ashe Alexandria ( /ˈɑːʃeɪ/), and son, Bodhi Gabriel.
  
  wn.com/Patrick_Sabongui
• Paul Cartledge
  Paul Anthony Cartledge (born 24 March 1947) is the first A. G. Leventis Professor of Greek Culture at Cambridge University, having previously held a personal chair in Greek History at Cambridge.
  Cartledge was educated at St Paul's School and New College, Oxford where, with his contemporaries Robin Lane Fox and Terence Irwin, he was a student of G. E. M. de Ste. Croix. He completed his doctoral thesis in Spartan archaeology at the same institution, under the supervision of Professor Sir John Boardman. He lectured at the New University of Ulster in 1972-73, at Trinity College Dublin from 1973 to 1978, and at the University of Warwick in 1978-79. In October 1979 he moved to Cambridge University where he is a fellow of Clare College.
  He is a world expert on Athens and Sparta in the Classical Age and has been described as a Laconophile. He was chief historical consultant for the BBC TV series The Greeks and the Channel 4 series The Spartans, presented by Bettany Hughes. He is also a holder of the Gold Cross of the Order of Honour and an Honorary Citizen of (modern) Sparta. Besides the Leventis Professorship, he holds a visiting Global Distinguished Professorship at New York University, funded by the Greek Parliament. He sits on the European Advisory Board of Princeton University Press.
  
  wn.com/Paul_Cartledge
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  Persian People
  The Persian people are part of the Iranian peoples who speak the modern Persian language and closely akin Iranian dialects and languages. The origin of the ethnic Iranian/Persian peoples are traced to the Ancient Iranian peoples, who were part of the ancient Indo-Iranians. The synonymous usage of Iranian and Persian has persisted over the centuries although some modern Western sources use Iranic/Iranian as a wider term that includes the term Persian as well as related Iranian languages and ethnic groups. However, these terms have been used both synonymously as well as in a complementary fashion since ancient times; as the Ancient Iranian peoples such as the Old Persians, Medes, Bactrians, Parthians and Avesta peoples considered themselves to be part of the greater Iranian ethnic stock.
  The term Persian translates to "from or of Persis" which is a region north of the Persian Gulf located in Pars, Iran. It was from this region that Cyrus the Great, the founder of the Achaemenid empire, united all other Iranian empires (such as the Medes and the Elamites), and expanded the Persian cultural and social influences by incorporating the Babylonian empire, and the Lydian empire. Although not the first Iranian empire, the Achaemenid empire is the first Persian empire well recognized by Greek and Persian historians for its massive cultural, military and social influences going as far as Athens, Egypt, and Libya.
  
  wn.com/Persian_People
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  Persian people
  The Persian people are part of the Iranian peoples who speak the modern Persian language and closely akin Iranian dialects and languages. The origin of the ethnic Iranian/Persian peoples are traced to the Ancient Iranian peoples, who were part of the ancient Indo-Iranians. The synonymous usage of Iranian and Persian has persisted over the centuries although some modern Western sources use Iranic/Iranian as a wider term that includes the term Persian as well as related Iranian languages and ethnic groups. However, these terms have been used both synonymously as well as in a complementary fashion since ancient times; as the Ancient Iranian peoples such as the Old Persians, Medes, Bactrians, Parthians and Avesta peoples considered themselves to be part of the greater Iranian ethnic stock.
  The term Persian translates to "from or of Persis" which is a region north of the Persian Gulf located in Pars, Iran. It was from this region that Cyrus the Great, the founder of the Achaemenid empire, united all other Iranian empires (such as the Medes and the Elamites), and expanded the Persian cultural and social influences by incorporating the Babylonian empire, and the Lydian empire. Although not the first Iranian empire, the Achaemenid empire is the first Persian empire well recognized by Greek and Persian historians for its massive cultural, military and social influences going as far as Athens, Egypt, and Libya.
  
  wn.com/Persian_people
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  Peter Mensah
  Peter Mensah (born on 27 August 1959 in Accra, Ghana), is an English/Ghanaian actor, best known for his roles in Tears of the Sun and 300, and more recently on the Starz original series, Spartacus: Blood and Sand, Spartacus: Gods of the Arena, and Spartacus: Vengeance.
  Mensah comes from an academic family. He was born in Ghana, to parents of the Ashanti people, but he moved to Hertfordshire, England, with his father (an engineer), his mother (a writer) and two younger sisters at a young age. Mensah moved to Canada 11 years ago. He emigrated from Britain to see the world and it was a toss-up whether his destination would be Canada or Australia. The paperwork for Canada came through first.
  Mensah's film credits include Avatar, 300, Hidalgo, Tears of the Sun, Jason X, Harvard Man, Bless the Child and The Incredible Hulk. He also stars in the short film The Seed, produced and directed by Linkin Park's DJ Joe Hahn. He has made television appearances in Star Trek: Enterprise, Tracker, Witchblade, Blue Murder, Relic Hunter, Earth: Final Conflict, Highlander: The Raven, Final Destination, and La Femme Nikita. He was a member of the repertory cast of the A&E Network series A Nero Wolfe Mystery.
  
  wn.com/Peter_Mensah
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  Pleistarchus
  Pleistarchus or Plistarch (Ancient Greek: Πλείσταρχος; died 458 BC) was the Agiad King of Sparta from 480 to 458 BC. He was the son of Leonidas I and Gorgo. For the early part of his reign, his cousin Pausanias, acted as regent because Pleistarchus was not of age.
  A young Pleistarchus was portrayed by Giovani Cimmino in the 2007 feature film 300.
  A young Pleistarchus (titled Leo Jr.) was portrayed by Hunter Clary in the 2008 parody feature film Meet the Spartans.
  
  wn.com/Pleistarchus
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  Plutarch
  
  Plutarch (English pronunciation: /'pluːtɑːk/; Greek: Πλούταρχος, Ploútarkhos, Koine Greek: [plŭːtarkʰos]) then named, on his becoming a Roman citizen, Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus (Μέστριος Πλούταρχος),c. 46 – 120 AD, was a Greek historian, biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonist known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia. He was born to a prominent family in Chaeronea, Boeotia, a town about twenty miles east of Delphi.
  Plutarch was born in 46 AD in the small town of Chaeronea, in the Greek region known as Boeotia. His family was wealthy. The name of Plutarch's father has not been preserved, but it was probably Nikarchus (Greek: Nίκαρχoς), from the common habit of Greek families to repeat a name in alternate generations. The name of Plutarch's grandfather was Lamprias, as he attested in Moralia and in his Life of Antony.
  His brothers, Timon and Lamprias, are frequently mentioned in his essays and dialogues, where Timon is spoken of in the most affectionate terms. Rualdus, in his 1624 work Life of Plutarchus, recovered the name of Plutarch's wife, Timoxena, from internal evidence afforded by his writings. A letter is still extant, addressed by Plutarch to his wife, bidding her not give way to excessive grief at the death of their two year old daughter, who was named Timoxena after her mother. Interestingly, he hinted at a belief in reincarnation in that letter of consolation.
  
  wn.com/Plutarch
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  Quentin Tarantino
  Quentin Jerome Tarantino (pronunciation: /ˌtærənˈtiːnoʊ/; born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. He has received many industry awards, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA and the Palme d'Or and had been nominated for an Emmy and Grammy.
  Born in Knoxville, Tennessee, Tarantino was an avid film fan. His career began in the late 1980's, when he wrote and directed My Best Friend's Birthday. Its screenplay would form the basis for True Romance. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence. His films include Reservoir Dogs (1992), Pulp Fiction (1994), Jackie Brown (1997), Kill Bill (2003, 2004), Death Proof (2007), and Inglourious Basterds (2009).
  His movies are generally characterized by stylistic influences from grindhouse, kung fu, and spaghetti western films. Tarantino also frequently collaborates with his friend and fellow filmmaker Robert Rodriguez.
  
  wn.com/Quentin_Tarantino
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  Richard Roeper
  Richard E. Roeper (born October 17, 1959) is an American columnist and film critic for The Chicago Sun-Times and now a co-host on The Roe Conn Show on WLS-AM. He co-hosted the television series At the Movies with Roger Ebert from 2000–2008, as the late Gene Siskel's replacement.
  Roeper was born in Chicago, Illinois, and was raised in south suburban Dolton, Illinois. He attended Thornridge High School and graduated from Illinois State University in 1982. He has described himself as a Catholic, although "not always first in line for Sunday Mass".^{[citation needed]}
  Roeper began working as a columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times in 1987. The topics of his columns range from politics to media to entertainment. In more recent years, he has been widely considered one of the finest newspaper writers in Chicago, just a notch below the city's golden-inked "Mount Rushmore" of John Kass (Tribune), Dave Hoekstra (Sun-Times), Jay Mariotti (Sun-Times) and Roger Ebert (Sun-Times).
  He has also written seven books, on topics from movies to urban legends to conspiracy theories to the Chicago White Sox. In 2009 Roeper appeared on Howard Stern's show and said he had written a book on gambling, entitled Bet the House, which was released in the first quarter of 2010.
  
  wn.com/Richard_Roeper
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  Robert Maillet
  Robert Maillet (born October 26, 1969) is a Canadian professional wrestler and actor. He is known for his tenure in the World Wrestling Federation, as a member of the Truth Commission and the Oddities, wrestling under the name Kurrgan.
  Maillet spent some time in Japan working for the W*ING promotion as Goliath El Gigante. Maillet signed for the WWF in 1997 alongside The Jackyl as a member of The Truth Commission, billed as "The Interrogator". The group was sent to the United States Wrestling Association before being called up to the main WWF roster, where Maillet's ring name evolved into "Kurrgan The Interrogator". After The Truth Commission disbanded, Maillet – now billed simply as "Kurrgan" – went on to be part of the Oddities.
  He later worked for Jacques Rougeau's wrestling events as Kurgan. On July 8, 2005, he wrestled "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan during half-time of a Canadian Football League game in Montreal.
  Using the name Giant Kurgan, Maillet worked for Emile Dupree's Atlantic Grand Prix Wrestling (GPW), and St.John's based Legend City Wrestling (LCW).
  
  wn.com/Robert_Maillet
• Robert McHenry
  Robert Dale McHenry (born April 30, 1945) is an American editor, encyclopedist, and writer. McHenry worked from 1967 for Encyclopædia Britannica Inc. or associated companies, becoming editor-in-chief of the Encyclopædia Britannica in 1992, a position he held until 1997. McHenry is also author of the book How to Know (2004), and a frequent contributor to journals.
  McHenry was born in St. Louis, Missouri. He attended Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1966. He also received a Master's degree from the University of Michigan in 1967. Later in life, McHenry undertook further study at Northwestern University, where he graduated from Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management with a Master of Business Administration in 1987.
  McHenry's career at Encyclopædia Britannica Inc. began in 1967. After two years, he transferred to San Francisco Productions to work for Mortimer Adler, where he co-edited (with Charles Van Doren) Webster's Guide to American History, A Documentary History of Conservation in America, and Webster's American Biographies. McHenry transferred in 1975 to G. & C. Merriam Co. (later renamed Merriam-Webster Inc.) where he edited Webster's American Military Biographies, Famous American Women, Liberty's Women, and Webster's New Biographical Dictionary.
  
  wn.com/Robert_McHenry
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  Rodrigo Santoro
  Rodrigo Junqueira dos Reis Santoro (born 22 August 1975) is a Brazilian actor.
  Santoro was born in Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro. He is of half Italian descent. In 1993, as Santoro was studying Journalism at PUC-Rio, he entered the Actor's Workshop of Rede Globo. Santoro went on to play parts in many of Globo's telenovelas, such as Olho no Olho (1993), Pátria Minha (1994), Explode Coração (1995), O Amor Está no Ar (1997), Suave Veneno (1999) and Mulheres Apaixonadas (2003), as well as the miniseries Hilda Furacão (1998), in the role of a priest. Santoro was also the voice actor of the titular character in Stuart Little and its sequel in the Brazilian dubbed copies.
  His first major role in a cinema production would come in 2001, with Bicho de Sete Cabeças (Brainstorm) by Brazilian director Laís Bodansky. By the end of the film, he received a standing ovation from the audience. He also went on to win the festival's best actor trophy. After Bicho, his reputation as an actor had been solidified and he was cast as the male lead in Abril Despedaçado (Behind the Sun), one of the nominees for best foreign film in the 2002 Golden Globe Awards. He had another performance in the 2003 Hector Babenco film Carandiru, where he played a transexual prisoner known as "Lady Di".
  
  wn.com/Rodrigo_Santoro
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  Roger Ebert
  Roger Joseph Ebert ( /ˈiːbərt/; born June 18, 1942) is an American journalist, film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.
  Ebert is known for his film review column (appearing in the Chicago Sun-Times since 1967, and later online) and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The Movies, all of which he co-hosted for a combined 23 years with Gene Siskel. After Siskel's death in 1999, Ebert teamed with Richard Roeper for the television series Ebert & Roeper & the Movies, which began airing in 2000. Although his name remained in the title, Ebert did not appear on the show after mid-2006 after he suffered post-surgical complications related to thyroid cancer, leaving him unable to speak. Ebert ended his association with the show in July 2008, but in February 2009 he stated that he and Roeper would continue their work on a new show. Ebert's current show, Ebert Presents: At the Movies, premiered on January 21, 2011, with Ebert contributing a review voiced by someone else in a brief segment called "Roger's Office".
  
  wn.com/Roger_Ebert
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  Simonides of Ceos
  Simonides of Ceos (Ancient Greek: Σιμωνίδης ὁ Κεῖος) (c. 556 BC-468 BC) was a Greek lyric poet, born at Ioulis on Kea. The scholars of Hellenistic Alexandria included him in the canonical list of nine lyric poets, along with Bacchylides (his nephew) and Pindar (reputedly a bitter rival). Both Bacchylides and Pindar benefited from his innovative approach to lyric poetry and he was more involved than either of them in the major events and personalities of their times. His fame owes much to traditional accounts of his colourful life, as one of the wisest of men, as a greedy miser, as an inventor of a system of mnemonics and also of some letters of the Greek alphabet (ω, η, ξ, ψ ). Such accounts include fanciful elements yet he had a real influence on the sophistic enlightenment of the classical era. His fame as a poet rests largely on his ability to present basic human situations with affecting simplicity. In the words of the Roman rhetorician Quintilian:
  He is popularly associated with epitaphs commemorating fallen warriors, as for example the Lacedaemonians at The Battle of Thermopylae:
  
  
  wn.com/Simonides_of_Ceos
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  Slavoj Žižek
  Slavoj Žižek (pronounced [ˈslavoj ˈʒiʒɛk]; born 21 March 1949) is a Slovenian philosopher and cultural critic working in the traditions of Hegelianism, Marxism and Lacanian psychoanalysis. He has made contributions to political theory, film theory and theoretical psychoanalysis.
  Žižek is a senior researcher at the Institute of Sociology University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, and a professor at the European Graduate School. He has been a visiting professor at, among others, the University of Chicago, Columbia University, London Consortium, Princeton University, New York University, The New School, the University of Minnesota, the University of California, Irvine and the University of Michigan. He is currently the International Director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities at Birkbeck, University of London and president of the Society for Theoretical Psychoanalysis, Ljubljana.
  Žižek uses examples from popular culture to explain the theory of Jacques Lacan and uses Lacanian psychoanalysis, Hegelian philosophy and Marxist economic criticism to interpret and speak extensively on immediately current social phenomena, including the current ongoing global financial crisis. In a 2008 interview with Amy Goodman on the New York City radio show Democracy Now! he described himself as a "communist in a qualified sense" and in another appearance on the show in October 2009 he described himself as a "radical leftist".
  
  wn.com/Slavoj_Žižek
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  Stephen McHattie
  Stephen McHattie (born Stephen McHattie Smith; February 3, 1947) is a Canadian actor.
  McHattie was born in Antigonish, Nova Scotia.
  A graduate of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, he has appeared in many films and television shows including Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Enterprise, Highlander: The Series, and American Playhouse's Life Under Water (1989). His roles include 300, A History of Violence, The Fountain, Secretary, Shoot 'Em Up, Life with Billy, One Dead Indian, Beverly Hills Cop III.
  In Canada, he appeared in Canada: A People's History as Canadian hero Major-General Sir Isaac Brock, and in The Rocket as legendary coach Dick Irvin.
  He also portrayed Jacques Pasquinel in the James A. Michener production of Centennial. He portrayed an extraordinary USMC sniper (based on real life sniper Carlos Hathcock) in the JAG season one episode "High Ground".
  In 1976 McHattie played James Dean in the television movie James Dean: Portrait of a Friend, a television adaptation of the biography written by James Dean's friend and writer Bill Bast.
  
  wn.com/Stephen_McHattie
• Steven Rea
  Steven Rea (also known as Steven X. Rea) is an American journalist, film critic, poet, and writer. Although at the beginning of his career he was based in Los Angeles, California, he now resides on the East Coast. Since 1982 he has written for the Philadelphia Inquirer. Other periodicals for which he has written include: Entertainment Weekly, TV Guide, Family Fun,Crawdaddy, Music World, Phonograph Record Magazine, High Fidelity, Folk Scene, Los Angeles, New West, Trouser Press, Oui, Chic, Record World, and the Los Angeles Herald Examiner.
  Rea was born in London, England, but he was raised in New York City. After graduating from Stuyvesant High School, he received his undergraduate degree in English and Creative Writing from San Francisco State University. He also attended the Writers Workshop graduate program at the University of Iowa.
  Rea has written for multiple publications, as well as working for major record labels such as Island Records. Rea has written for the Philadelphia Inquirer since 1982, covering pop culture topics which include Hollywood, pop music and books. He became one of its film critics in 1992. Additionally, he has worked as an editor and written fiction. His poetry has been published in The Paris Review and The New York Quarterly. His feature film reviews have been syndicated.
  
  wn.com/Steven_Rea
• Sullivan Stapleton
  Sullivan Stapleton is an Australian actor, who has appeared in many television series but is best known from his roles in Satisfaction and The Secret Life of Us. He is the brother of actress Jacinta Stapleton. He is also recognised for his role as Fearless in the film December Boys (2007), Officer Matt Henry in Darkness Falls (2003) and Craig Cody in Animal Kingdom. Most recently Sullivan Stapleton has appeared in the SKY (BSkyB) series Strike Back: Project Dawn.
  In 2012, it was reported that Stapleton had been cast in "a lead role" in the movie 300: Battle of Artemisia. After some initial confusion as to what role he would play, it was confirmed Stapleton was cast as the Greek leader Themistocles.
  He plays Craig in Animal Kingdom, an Australian drama feature which won the Top Jury Prize at Sundance 2010.
  
  wn.com/Sullivan_Stapleton
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  Susan Sontag
  Susan Sontag (/ˈsɒntɑːɡ/; January 16, 1933 – December 28, 2004) was an American essayist, literary icon, and political activist whose works include On Photography, Against Interpretation, The Way We Live Now, and Regarding the Pain of Others.
  Sontag, born Susan Rosenblatt, was born in New York City to Jack Rosenblatt and Mildred Jacobsen, both Jewish. Her father managed a fur trading business in China, where he died of tuberculosis in 1939, when Susan was five years old. Seven years later, her mother married Nathan Sontag. Susan and her sister, Judith, were given their stepfather's surname, although he never adopted them formally. Sontag did not have a religious upbringing. She claimed not to have entered a synagogue until her mid-twenties.
  
  wn.com/Susan_Sontag
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  Themistocles
  Themistocles (Greek: Θεμιστοκλῆς; "Glory of the Law"; c. 524–459 BC), was an Athenian politician and a general. He was one of a new breed of politicians who rose to prominence in the early years of the Athenian democracy, along with his great rival Aristides. As a politician, Themistocles was a populist, having the support of lower class Athenians, and generally being at odds with the Athenian nobility. Elected archon in 493 BC, he took steps to increase the naval power of Athens, which would be a recurring theme in his political career. During the first Persian invasion of Greece, he fought at the Battle of Marathon, and was possibly one of the 10 Athenian strategoi (generals) in that battle.
  In the years after Marathon, and in the run up to the second Persian invasion he became the most prominent politician in Athens. He continued to advocate a strong Athenian navy, and in 483 BC he persuaded the Athenians to build a fleet of 200 triremes; these would prove crucial in the forthcoming conflict with Persia. During the second invasion, he was in effective command of the Greek allied navy at the battles of Artemisium and Salamis. Due to subterfuge on the part of Themistocles, the Allies lured the Persian fleet into the Straits of Salamis, and the decisive Greek victory there was the turning point in the invasion, which was ended the following year by the defeat of the Persians at the Battle of Plataea.
  
  wn.com/Themistocles
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  Tim Burton
  Timothy Walter "Tim" Burton (born August 25, 1958) is an American film director, film producer, writer and artist. He is famous for quirky-themed movies such as Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow, Corpse Bride, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, and Dark Shadows and for blockbusters such as Pee-wee's Big Adventure, Batman, Batman Returns, Planet of the Apes, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Alice in Wonderland, which was the second highest-grossing film of 2010, and the tenth highest-grossing film of all time.
  Burton is known for using recurring collaborators on his works; among them are Johnny Depp, who has become a close friend of Burton since their first film together; musician Danny Elfman, who has composed for all but five of the films Burton has directed or produced; and domestic partner Helena Bonham Carter. He also wrote and illustrated the poetry book The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy & Other Stories, published in 1997, and a compilation of his drawings, entitled The Art of Tim Burton, was released in 2009. Burton has directed 16 films and produced 12, as of 2012. His latest films are an adaptation of the soap opera Dark Shadows, released on May 10, 2012, and a remake of his 1984 short, Frankenweenie, scheduled to be released on October 5, 2012.
  
  wn.com/Tim_Burton
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  Tom Izzo
  Tom Izzo (pronounced /ˈɪzoʊ/; born January 30, 1955) is an American college basketball coach. Since 1995, he has been the head coach for the Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team, presiding over a prolonged period of success.
  Under Izzo, the Michigan State program has been one of the most successful in the country. Izzo has led the Spartans to the 2000 NCAA Division I National Championship, the 2009 NCAA Division I National Championship Game, six Final Fours, and seven Big Ten Championships in his first 17 years at Michigan State. The coach with the most wins in school history, Izzo's teams have been invited to the past 15 consecutive NCAA tournaments, in addition to setting the Big Ten record for the longest home winning streak. These accomplishments led analyst Andy Katz at ESPN to deem Michigan State the top college basketball program for the decade from 1998 to 2007.
  Currently the longest tenured coach in the Big Ten Conference, Izzo, whose teams are often recognized for their rebounding prowess and defensive tenacity, has won four national coach of the year awards and maintains a considerable coaching tree—several of his former assistants are currently head coaches at other Division I schools. Izzo is just the 5th coach in Big Ten history to win 7 conference titles.
  
  wn.com/Tom_Izzo
• Tom Wisdom
  Tom Wisdom (born 18 February 1973) is an English actor of theatre, film and television. His film roles includes the downtrodden hero of Danny Patrick's Hey Mr DJ (2005) and Astinos in 300 (2007), based on Frank Miller's graphic novel about the Battle of Thermopylae.
  Wisdom was born in Swindon, Wiltshire, England.^{[citation needed]} Wisdom grew up in many different places because of his father's position in the Royal Air Force. He grew up on air bases in Swindon, Doncaster and Devon. He has two siblings, an older brother and a younger sister. Wisdom attended both the Taunton's College in Southampton and the Academy Drama School, where he became the recipient of the Stage Scholarship.
  On television, he played Tom Ferguson in the long-running soap Coronation Street (1999–2000), Ivor Claire in the Evelyn Waugh adaptation Sword of Honour (2001), Stephen Clarke in the thriller Suspicion (2003) and Marco Bailey in Sky One's airline drama Mile High (2003–2004). Other television work includes Harry Enfield's Brand Spanking New Show, Children of the New Forest, Wycliffe and Blackhearts in Battersea. In early 2010 Tom starred in an episode of Agatha Christie's Poirot.
  
  wn.com/Tom_Wisdom
• Touraj Daryaee
  Touraj Daryaee (born 1967 in Tehran, Iran) is a contemporary Persian Iranologist and historian. His elementary and secondary schooling was in Tehran, Iran and Athens, Greece. Daryaee took his Ph.D. in History at the University of California, Los Angeles in 1999. He specializes in the history and culture of Ancient Persia.
  He is now the Howard Baskerville Professor in the history of Iran and the Persianate World at University of California, Irvine. He is also the editor of the Name-ye Iran-e Bastan, The International Journal of Ancient Iranian Studies, as well as the director of Sasanika Project, a project on the history and culture of Sasanians. His most famous publications include Sasanian Persia: The Rise and Fall of an Empire and Sasanian Iran (224-651 CE): Portrait of a Late Antique Empire. Most recently he has written a book on Iranian history from the Pre-historic era to modern history.
  
  wn.com/Touraj_Daryaee
• Tyler Bates
  Tyler Bates is a music producer and composer for films, TV and video games. His most known work includes Rob Zombie's Halloween, Halloween II, The Devil's Rejects, Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead, 300, Watchmen, and Sucker Punch; Neil Marshall's Doomsday, See No Evil and James Gunn's Slither. In 2011 he scored Emilio Estevez's The Way, William Friedkin's Killer Joe, Marcus Nispel's Conan The Barbarian, Chris Gorak's The Darkest Hour, and James Gunn's Super.
  Tyler Bates will compose the upcoming PS3-game God of War IV soundtrack.
  
  
  
  wn.com/Tyler_Bates
• Tyler Neitzel
  Tyler Neitzel (born September 19, 1991) is an American actor. He played the role of Young King Leonidas in the Warner Brothers blockbuster film "300". He appears in the 2 hour special (2010) of Brothers & Sisters (ABC)episode: 'Time After Time' as Young Aaron. He will be seen in the new television police drama The Terriers on FOX.
  Recent feature films include Reconciliation, Freeway Killer and Signal Lost. Tyler has appeared in numerous national television commercials, print ads, and has lent his voice to many radio and television commercials and voiceovers including the feature film, My Life in Ruins. He has appeared in such popular television shows as ER, Crossing Jordan and The Guardian. Some of Tyler's earlier works include roles in such feature films as The Big Brass Ring, playing William Hurt as a child, The Young Filmmaker's Club, Wednesday's Child, Black and Blue and Romantic Weirdos. He also made appearances on various television shows as Power Rangers, Prey, Crimestrike and The Disney Channel. He guest starred in Criminal Minds in 2012.
  
  wn.com/Tyler_Neitzel
• 
  Victor Davis Hanson
  Victor Davis Hanson (born September 5, 1953) is a military historian, columnist, political essayist and former classics professor, a scholar of ancient warfare. He has been a commentator on modern warfare and contemporary politics for National Review and other media outlets. He was for many years a professor of classics at California State University, Fresno, and is currently the Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution.
  Hanson was awarded the National Humanities Medal in 2007, the Claremont Institute's Statesmanship Award at its annual Churchill Dinner, and the $250,000 Bradley prize from the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation in 2008.
  Hanson is also a farmer (growing raisin grapes on a family farm near Fresno, California) and a critic of social trends related to farming and agrarianism.
  Hanson, who is of Swedish descent, grew up on a family farm at Selma, in the San Joaquin Valley of California. His mother was a lawyer and judge, his father an educator and college administrator. Hanson's father and uncle played college football at the College of the Pacific under Amos Alonzo Stagg. Along with his older brother Nils and fraternal twin Alfred, Hanson attended public schools and graduated from Selma High School. Hanson received his B.A. from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 1975 and his Ph.D. in classics from Stanford University in 1980. He is a Protestant Christian.
  
  wn.com/Victor_Davis_Hanson
• Vincent Regan
  Vincent Regan (born 16 May 1965) is a British film and television actor, best known for his roles in historical/mythological epics such as 300, Troy and Clash of the Titans.
  Regan was born in Swansea, Glamorgan, Wales, on 16 May 1965, the son of Irish immigrants. As a youth he moved to Ireland with his parents, but returned to Britain and attended St Joseph's College, Ipswich, Suffolk.
  Regan has over 15 stage roles to his credit, most recently as Achilles in Troilus and Cressida at the Edinburgh International Festival. In association with the Royal Shakespeare Company, the festival presented director Peter Stein's strongly cast and visually striking production. He is best known for Ancient Greece-based films 300, in which he played the Captain, Troy, where he played Eudorus, Achilles' second in command, and Clash of the Titans, in which he played King Cepheus.
  Regan is also a screenwriter and director, developing projects for his own film company. His script, Come Like Shadows, is an accessible but classic interpretation of Macbeth headlining Sean Bean and Tilda Swinton, will be directed by John Maybury. He also appeared briefly as a sexually confused character in British series The Street.
  
  wn.com/Vincent_Regan
• William Hoy
  William Harry Hoy (born November 1955) is a film editor with more than 25 credits dating from 1987. He has been elected to membership in the American Cinema Editors.
  
  
  
  wn.com/William_Hoy
• 
  Xerxes I of Persia
  Xerxes I of Persia (/ˈzɜrksiːz/; Old Persian: Xšayaršā IPA: [xʃajaːrʃaː] meaning "ruling over heroes",Greek: Ξέρξης, Hebrew: אֲחַשְׁוֵרוֹשׁ, Modern Aẖashverosh Tiberian ʼĂḥašwērôš), also known as Xerxes the Great (519 BC-465 BC), was the fourth king of the Achaemenid Empire.
  Immediately after seizing the kingship, Darius I of Persia (son of Hystaspes) married Atossa (daughter of Cyrus the Great). They were both descendants of Achaemenes from different Achaemenid lines. Marrying a daughter of Cyrus strengthened Darius's position as king. Darius was an active emperor, busy with building programs in Persepolis, Susa, Egypt, and elsewhere. Toward the end of his reign he moved to punish Athens, but a new revolt in Egypt (probably led by the Persian satrap) had to be suppressed. Under Persian law, the Achaemenian kings were required to choose a successor before setting out on such serious expeditions. Upon his great decision to leave (487-486 BC), Darius prepared his tomb at Naqsh-e Rostam and appointed Xerxes, his eldest son by Atossa, as his successor. Darius's failing health then prevented him from leading the campaigns, and he died in October 486 BC.
  
  wn.com/Xerxes_I_of_Persia
• 
  Zack Snyder
  Zachary Edward "Zack" Snyder (born March 1, 1966) is an American actor, film director, screenwriter, and producer, best known for action/science fiction films. After making his feature film debut with the 2004 remake Dawn of the Dead, he gained wide recognition with the 2007 box office hit 300, adapted from writer-artist Frank Miller's Dark Horse Comics miniseries of the same name, and later went on to direct the 2009 superhero film Watchmen, an adaptation of the comic book of the same name. He is the co-founder of Cruel and Unusual Films, a production company he established in 2004, alongside his wife Deborah Snyder and producing partner Wesley Coller. His first family film was the 2010 animated family adventure film Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole, based on the first three books of the series by Kathryn Lasky. His most recent film is Sucker Punch, which he directed and co-wrote. He has also been hired by Warner Bros. to direct a reboot of the Superman film series currently titled Man of Steel.
  
  wn.com/Zack_Snyder

300 (2007)

Actors

• Gerard Butler
• Lena Headey
• David Wenham
• Dominic West
• Vincent Regan
• Rodrigo Santoro

Director

• Zack Snyder