Mostly just because of the 300 thing. And it was hardly a nemesis. Anyways, it probably goes with the nostalgia filter. Like how I read yesterday on Wodehouse that his exile to the United States after WWII (during the war the Germans made him record some non-pro-Nazi joking broadcasts, and so the propoganda in the UK called him a traitor, and would only print things against him rather than letters supporting him) made him rememeber the UK only as it was before the war, with rose tinted nostalgia. Back when he was popular, invited to parties, and the country wasn't bombed out and moving into a slightly cleaner version of the Insutrial Revolution.Does it? Because when I hear Persia, I think of that nemesis of the Greeks and Romans.