Everyone clearly missed the obvious point of this film.

At the end when the Spartans are being outnumbered and are about to be attacked, the king asks for one of his men to come speak with him. (cant remember names since its been a while,sorry).

Anyways, this man was asked to speak with the king because he had a talent better than the rest of the spartans. His talent was story telling, he was asked to run back to the city and tell them everything that happened. All the events, all the 'monsters' were exagerations made by the story teller himself.

The persians viewed their kings almost as gods, hence the huge persian king and his almost immortal appearance.The spartan storyteller added everything he saw and more.

Anyways,cheers.Haha.