For Athens

In the 5^th century BC, during the Greco-Persian wars, the Persian Empire set out to subjugate the Greek city-states. On the Greek side, one man had to prove his worth and defend his ideals. Opposite him was a Persian king bent on authority and obsessed with extending the boundaries of his empire. In the midst of all this, a traitor wanted to reestablish tyranny, and a son to avenge his father with might of an empire. The overwhelming scale of the Persian forces came up against the bravery of a modest city: Athens.

This immersion into Ancient Greece, filmed in the original language, follows in the footsteps of Themistocles and his fearsome adversary Xerxes, through two spectacular military engagements, one on land, the other naval: the battles of Marathon (490 BC) and Salamis (480 BC). Themistocles against Xerxes, the story of a duel and the exceptional parallel careers of two men of a similar age, but whose origins, beliefs and cultures were very different: the son of a king and the son of democracy itself.

Two films that recount two incredible combats which took place some 2,500 years ago, on land and at sea, and involving millions of troops.