Three (comics)

Last updated
Three
Three Graphic Novel Cover.jpg
Cover of Three #1 and the trade paperback
Publication information
Publisher Image Comics
ScheduleMonthly
Format Limited series
Genre Historical fiction
Publication dateOctober 2013 - February 2014
No. of issues5
Main character(s)Klaros, Trepander, Damar
Creative team
Written by Kieron Gillen
Artist(s) Ryan Kelly, Hannah Donovan
Letterer(s) Clayton Cowles
Colorist(s) Jordie Bellaire
Collected editions
Three ISBN   1607069636

Three is an American comic book miniseries created by Kieron Gillen, Ryan Kelly and Jordie Bellaire. It was published monthly by Image Comics between October 2013 and February 2014 before being released as a single volume in April 2014. It follows three Helots in ancient Sparta fleeing from an army of Spartiates. [1]

Contents

Publication History

Three has been described as an "equal and opposite response" to the view of Sparta presented by Frank Miller's 300 . Gillen was inspired to create the comic when he read 300 and was enraged by its glorification of Sparta as a "free" society despite having a huge slave underclass. [2] He initially intended to portray the Spartans as pure antagonists, as the Persians were in 300. However, while researching for the book he came to the conclusion that the Spartans also suffered under their harsh society and the requirements it placed on them, and became more interested in presenting an objective and historically accurate image of ancient Sparta. [3] Professor Stephen Hodkinson of the University of Nottingham, a leading expert on Sparta, consulted on the book. [4]

Synopsis

The comic is set in 364 BC, seven years after the Battle of Leuctra where Sparta was defeated and humiliated by Thebes, shattering their image of military invincibility. It opens with a depiction of the Krypteia, an annual ritual where Spartiate youths murder the strongest Helots and terrorise the others to discourage rebellion.

Eurytos, one of the five annually elected Ephors, and his guards take shelter from a storm at a farm worked by Helots. For entertainment they force the Helots to drink unwatered wine and observe their drunken revels. Klaros, a seemingly weak cripple, refuses to drink until Eurytos' son Arimnestos forces him too, and immediately vomits after swallowing the wine. Arimnestos orders the other Helots to eat Klaros' vomit and rhapsodises the strength of the Spartiates, demonstrated by the 300 Spartans at Thermopylae. However Terpander, the overseer of the Helots, finds uncharacteristic courage in his drunkenness and mocks Arimnestos and the Spartans for their failure against the Thebans and the loss of Messenia. In response, Eurytos orders his men to kill the Helots.

Klaros escapes out of a window in the farmhouse and runs into the fields, demonstrating that his leg is healthy. He digs up a xiphos and considers fleeing, but returns to the farmstead. Klaros kills one of Eurytos' guards and Terpander and a woman named Damar stab the other to death with their knives. Eurytos begs for his life but Klaros kills him and Arimnestos flees in terror, suffering only a minor wound to his arm. Realising that the Spartiates will come for them, the three survivors decide to run and attempt to reach the free city of Messene.

In the city of Sparta, Kleomenes II, one of Sparta's two kings, watches an old man instruct a group of boys. The old man tells the boys a story of two dogs from the same litter, one raised as a hunting dog and the other as a pampered pet, the moral of the story being that their breeding as Spartiates is not enough to make them soldiers and must be matched by equally important training in the Agoge. Kleomenes reflects to Tyrtaios, his former erastes, that when he was a boy the story taught that training was more important that breeding, and Tyrtaios replies that following Sparta's loss of power and prestige they need the young to believe they are inherently superior. Suddenly Arimnestos runs into the city and announces that his father has been killed by Helots.

Kleomenes meets with the four living Ephors, who demand he take an army and hunt down the three Helots. The king is enraged at being asked to perform such a menial task and the Ephor's reverence of his co-king Agesilaos, who regularly broke Sparta's supposedly sacred laws and pardoned the men who surrendered at Leuctra while his father Cleombrotus I fought and died where he stood as Spartiates are expected to. The Ephors obliquely threaten Kleomenes, referencing the deposition and "suicide" of Kleomenes I, and he resentfully takes his three hundred hippeis to hunt three helots. Arimnestos leads the hippeis to the farmhouse. A Helot tracker named Alopex claims that the three headed north, but when Kleomenes threatens to execute his family if he lies, he admits they went west towards Messene. Kleomenes declares Arimnestos a "trembler" and an outcast. His men beat Arimnestos, forcibly shave half his beard and order him to return to Sparta.

The three take a moment to rest near a statue of Aphrodite. Klaros considers killing Terpander for causing their plight but spares him, deciding he cannot kill a man for feeling a moment of pride. Arimnestos returns to Sparta and is shunned by society and disowned by his mother. Enraged at the hypocrisy of those who shun him, many of whom surrendered at Leuctra, he steals an antique bronze panoply and weapons and his mother's champion team of racehorses, and decides to hunt the three himself. He hires Aristodemos, a Skiritai scout, to track the three. The three are forced to fight their way past a Spartiate patrol on the only bridge across the Eurotas. Klaros kills all four soldiers single-handedly, much to the other's amazement. Arimnestos and Aristodemos observe them from a high vantage point.

The three flee to the mountain passes into Messenia. Arimnestos and Aristodemos follow them in, but Aristodemos points out that Arimnestos will be outnumbered and the Helots could escape or even manage to sneak up and kill him in the rough terrain. He offers to lead the Helots into a trap in exchange for Arimnestos' horses. Aristodemos approaches the Helots as a friend and convinces them to enter a narrow pass, claiming it leads out of Laconia. In fact the pass is a dead end and they are trapped by Arimnestos. Klaros fights Arimnestos but is unable to harm him due to his superior equipment. Terpander hears Kleomenes' army drawing close and sacrifices himself by leaping onto Arimnestos' spear, allowing Klaros to kill him. Mortally wounded and dying, Terpander encourages the others to run, but they realise they cannot escape. Instead, Klaros takes Arimnestos' weapons and armour and guards the narrow pass.

Kleomenes sends his men to attack but Klaros is at the top of a steep hill and the pass forces the Spartiates to attack one at a time, allowing him to hold them off. Although both sides know he will inevitably lose, the Spartiates are taking heavy losses and Kleomenes orders them to withdraw. Klaros challenges Kleomenes to a duel but Tyrtaios answers as Kleomenes' champion. After a hard battle, Klaros is able to kill Tyrtaios but is exhausted. Terpander takes the armour and goes out of the cave. He tells the Spartiates that many more Helots died at Thermopylae than Spartiates, and that they are ready to avenge those who died for the freedom of others. Shaken by Tyrtaios' death, Kleomenes does not order another attack despite his soldiers' demand that they answer Trepander's insult. That night, Damar and Klaros have sex and Trepander succumbs to his wounds while standing guard.

Knowing they cannot hold out for another day, Klaros offers to kill Damar quickly but she takes the sword and retreats into the cave, prepared to fight the Spartiates when they come for her. Klaros dons the armour and exits the cave to face the Spartiates again. Kleomenes approaches him as if to fight but soldiers at the top of the pass simply drop a boulder onto Klaros to kill him. The Spartiates are horrified by such an "unspartan" tactic, but Kleomenes replies that they cannot afford to waste men trying to live up to Sparta's ideals. The Spartiates head into the cave and find Terpander and Arimnestos' bodies. As Arimnestos is unrecognisable due to Klaros stabbing him in the face, he is mistaken for the third Helot and the hippeis withdraw, not noticing Damar who is hiding in a crevice. When the soldiers march for Sparta, Damar is able to slip away and escape to Messene. Nine months later she gives birth to twin sons, who she names Klaros and Terpander. She tells her children that they are free.

In Egypt, Pharaoh Nectanebo I runs to the beach to meet Agesilaos and his Spartan mercenaries. As he runs he extolls Sparta's martial prowess. At the beach he does not find the expected army, but merely Agesilaos lying alone on the beach, staring out to sea. Agesilaos says simply "Here lies Sparta".

Characters

Reception

The series consistently suffered from low sales figures through its initial run and the trade paperback sold only an estimated 1,764 units in its debut month. [5] Despite this, critical reception was generally positive. According to the review aggregation website Comic Book Roundup, the series received an average score of 8.4/10 from critics, based on 42 reviews. [6] Goodreads gave the trade paperback an average score of 3.77 from readers, based on 472 ratings. [7]

The majority of reviews praised the book for its rigorous attention to historical details and Ryan Kelly's artwork, but were more mixed on the plot and characterisation. François Peneaud of The Slings & Arrows Graphic Novel Guide called it "a vivid recreation of ancient times... offering a personal interpretation of a period of history which deserves better than being reduced to a battle cry", [8] while James Johnston of Multiversity Comics described the first issue as "more focused towards teaching the reader than it is towards entertaining... [but] still a very well written and well-drawn comic", and "a tribute to a long-forgotten people". [9] However, Joshua Yehi of IGN stated that he did not find the main characters compelling and felt that the story depicted the Spartans as one-dimensional villains. [10]

Related Research Articles

Agesilaus II was king of Sparta from c. 400 to c. 360 BC. Generally considered the most important king in the history of Sparta, Agesilaus was the main actor during the period of Spartan hegemony that followed the Peloponnesian War. Although brave in combat, Agesilaus lacked the diplomatic skills to preserve Sparta's position, especially against the rising power of Thebes, which reduced Sparta to a secondary power after its victory at Leuctra in 371 BC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sparta</span> City-state in ancient Greece

Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon, while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement on the banks of the Eurotas River in the Eurotas valley of Laconia, in south-eastern Peloponnese. Around 650 BC, it rose to become the dominant military land-power in ancient Greece.

Spartan hegemony refers to the period of dominance by Sparta in Greek affairs from 404 to 371 BC. Even before this period the polis of Sparta was the greatest military land power of classical Greek antiquity and governed, dominated or influenced the entire Peloponnese. The defeat of the Athenians and the Delian League in the Peloponnesian War in 431–404 BC resulted in a short-lived Spartan dominance of the southern Greek world from 404 to 371 BC. Due to their mistrust of others, Spartans discouraged the creation of records about their internal affairs. The only histories of Sparta are from the writings of Xenophon, Thucydides, Herodotus and Plutarch, none of whom were Spartans. Plutarch was writing several centuries after the period of Spartan hegemony had ceased. This creates difficulties in understanding the Spartan political system, which was distinctly different from any other Greek polis.

The helots were a subjugated population that constituted a majority of the population of Laconia and Messenia – the territories ruled by Sparta. There has been controversy since antiquity as to their exact characteristics, such as whether they constituted an Ancient Greek tribe, a social class, or both. For example, Critias described helots as "slaves to the utmost", whereas according to Pollux, they occupied a status "between free men and slaves". Tied to the land, they primarily worked in agriculture as a majority and economically supported the Spartan citizens.

Cleomenes I was Agiad King of Sparta from c. 524 to c. 490 BC. One of the most important Spartan kings, Cleomenes was instrumental in organising the Greek resistance against the Persian Empire of Darius, as well as shaping the geopolitical balance of Classical Greece.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cleomenes III</span> 3rd century BCE King of Sparta, Agiad dynasty

Cleomenes III was one of the two kings of Sparta from 235 to 222 BC. He was a member of the Agiad dynasty and succeeded his father, Leonidas II. He is known for his attempts to reform the Spartan state.

Gylippus was a Spartan general (strategos) of the 5th century BC; he was the son of Cleandridas, who was the adviser of King Pleistoanax and had been expelled from Sparta for accepting Athenian bribes in 446 BC and fled to Thurii, a pan-Hellenic colony then being founded in the instep of Italy with Athenian help and participation. His mother may have been a helot, which meant he was not a true Spartiate but a mothax, a man of inferior status. Despite this, from an early childhood he was trained for war in the traditional Spartan fashion and on reaching maturity had been elected to a military mess, his dues contributed by a wealthier Spartiate patron. For an individual of marginal origins, war was an opportunity to gain honor and eminence.

Pleistoanax, also spelled Plistoanax, was Agiad king of Sparta from 458 to 409 BC. He was the leader of the peace party in Sparta at a time of violent confrontations against Athens for the hegemony over Greece.

The ephors were a board of five magistrates in ancient Sparta. They had an extensive range of judicial, religious, legislative, and military powers, and could shape Sparta's home and foreign affairs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crypteia</span> Covert armed youth group in ancient Sparta

The Crypteia, also referred to as Krypteia or Krupteia, was an ancient Spartan rural armed group. The kryptai either principally sought out and killed helot Laconians, part of a policy of terrorising and intimidating the enslaved population; or they principally did a form of military training, or they principally endured hardships as an initiation ordeal, or the Crypteia served a combination of these purposes, possibly varying over time. The Krypteia was an element of Sparta's state child-rearing system for upper-class males.

<i>The 300 Spartans</i> 1962 film by Rudolph Maté

The 300 Spartans is a 1962 CinemaScope epic film depicting the Battle of Thermopylae. It was directed by Rudolph Maté and stars Richard Egan, Ralph Richardson, David Farrar, Diane Baker and Barry Coe. Produced with the cooperation of the Greek government, it was filmed in the village of Perachora in the Peloponnese.

A Spartiate or Homoios was an elite full-citizen male of the ancient Greek city-state of Sparta. Spartiate-class males were a small minority of the population: estimates are that they made up between one-tenth and one-thirty-secondth of the population, with the proportion decreasing over time; the vast majority of the people of Sparta were helots (slaves).

Sphodrias was a Spartan general during the Spartan Hegemony over Greece. As governor of Thespiai in 378 BC, he made an unsuccessful attack against Athens without any order from Sparta. He was put on trial for this act, but unexpectedly acquitted, thanks to the support of the two Spartan kings, Cleombrotus I and Agesilaus II. This acquittal greatly upset Athens which rapidly concluded an alliance with Thebes against Sparta as a result.

The conspiracy of Cinadon was an attempted coup d'état which took place in Sparta in 399 BCE early in the reign of Eurypontid King Agesilaus II. The leader was Cinadon, who was a trusted member of the king's bodyguard, but not a full citizen. The conspiracy aimed to break the power of the Spartan elite and give rights to a broader range of Lacedaemonians. Although elaborately organized, the plot was in the end betrayed to the ephors; they cracked down on the conspirators, and Cinadon himself was punished, possibly executed. The only significant source for this event is Xenophon's Hellenica, though it is mentioned by Polyaenus and Aristotle.

The Spartans is a three-part historical documentary series presented by Bettany Hughes and first broadcast on UK's Channel 4 on 17 November 2002. The series subsequently premiered on ABC in Australia on 1 June 2003 and on PBS in the United States on 6 August 2003.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spartan army</span> Army of the ancient Greek city-state of Sparta

The Spartan army stood at the center of the Spartan state, citizens trained in the disciplines and honor of a warrior society. Subjected to military drills since early manhood, the Spartans became one of the most feared and formidable military forces in the Greek world, attaining legendary status in their wars against Persia. At the height of Sparta's power – between the 6th and 4th centuries BC – other Greeks commonly accepted that "one Spartan was worth several men of any other state."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cleomenean War</span> Spartan war (229/228–222 BCE)

The Cleomenean War was fought between Sparta and the Achaean League for the control of the Peloponnese. Under the leadership of king Cleomenes III, Sparta initially had the upper hand, which forced the Achaean League to call for help the Macedonian king Antigonos Doson, who decisively defeated Cleomenes in the battle of Sellasia in 222.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Sparta</span>

The history of Sparta describes the history of the ancient Doric Greek city-state known as Sparta from its beginning in the legendary period to its incorporation into the Achaean League under the late Roman Republic, as Allied State, in 146 BC, a period of roughly 1000 years. Since the Dorians were not the first to settle the valley of the Eurotas River in the Peloponnesus of Greece, the preceding Mycenaean and Stone Age periods are described as well. Sparta went on to become a district of modern Greece. Brief mention is made of events in the post-classical periods.

The Spartan Constitution are the government and laws of the classical Greek city-state of Sparta. All classical Greek city-states had a politeia; the politeia of Sparta however, was noted by many classical authors for its unique features, which supported a rigidly layered social system and a strong hoplite army.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pausanias (king of Sparta)</span> King of Sparta in 445–426 and 408–395 BC

Pausanias was the Agiad King of Sparta; the son of Pleistoanax. He ruled Sparta from 445 BC to 427 BC and again from 409 BC to 395 BC. He was the leader of the faction in Sparta that opposed the imperialist policy conducted by Lysander.

References

  1. "Slaves of Ancient Sparta Rebel in Three". Image Comics. March 11, 2014. Retrieved July 20, 2022.
  2. Diestch, TJ (August 26, 2013). "Gillen Pits "Three" Against 300 at Image". CBR. Comic Book Resources. Retrieved July 20, 2022.
  3. Jaffe, Sarah (October 13, 2012). "'You Hunted Slaves!': Kieron Gillen on Spartan Culture and His New Series 'Three'". Comics Alliance. Retrieved July 18, 2022.
  4. "Stephen Hodkinson". Bad Ancient. Retrieved July 20, 2022.
  5. "April 2014 Comic Book Sales Figures". comichron.com. comichron.
  6. "Three".
  7. "Three by Kieron Gillen".
  8. "Review: Three". The Slings and Arrows. The Slings & Arrows Graphic Novel Guide. 2014. Retrieved July 20, 2022.
  9. "Review: Three #1". Multiversity Comics. October 10, 2013. Retrieved July 20, 2022.
  10. "Review: Three #1". IGN. October 10, 2013. Retrieved July 20, 2022.