A Historical Primer for 300: Rise of an Empire

So 300 is getting a sequel called 300: Rise of an Empire.  That’s weird to me on a few different levels, but I’m also surprisingly excited to see it.  I wasn’t a huge fan of the original movie, but I appreciate it as a modern progression of the swords-and-sandals epics of old.  Some of you may be asking what this movie will actually be about.  300 ends with a fairly concise conclusion, because they all died.  Where can the movie go from there?

Judging from the trailers, the vast majority of the movie will be centered on a naval conflict between the Athenians and the Persians.  The main hero is an Athenian commander played by relative unknown Sullivan Stapleton and his main opponent seems to be Eva Green as one of the main villains for the piece.  What does any of this mean?  Let’s get started with who our main characters are and go from there.