This Is Sparta

2006Catchphrase / video remixsemi-active

Also known as: THIS IS SPARTA · Sparta Kick · Sparta Remix · 300 Kick

This Is Sparta is a 2006 viral meme from the 2007 film 300, featuring King Leonidas screaming the catchphrase before kicking a Persian messenger into a pit, spawning countless remixes and parodies.

"This Is Sparta!" is a catchphrase meme from the 2007 film *300*, where King Leonidas (played by Gerard Butler) screams the line before kicking a Persian messenger into a bottomless pit. The scene went viral before the movie even hit theaters, spawning remixes, parodies, and real-world pranks that made it one of the most quoted lines of the late 2000s internet.

TL;DR

This Is Sparta a famous movie quote from '300' (2006) that became a popular meme phrase used to express dramatic defiance or determination in response to overwhelming odds.

Overview

The meme centers on a specific scene from *300* where a Persian messenger demands Sparta's submission to King Xerxes. After the messenger threatens Leonidas with the words "This is madness!", Leonidas replies "This is Sparta!" and boots him into a deep well4. The combination of Gerard Butler's over-the-top delivery, the absurdly dramatic kick, and the bottomless pit with no logical reason for existing made the moment irresistible to the internet6.

The format typically involves either remixing the original audio over other footage, recreating the kick in real life, or dropping the catchphrase into unrelated contexts as a declaration of defiance. The line works as both a power move and a punchline, which gave it legs across dozens of formats.

*300* is a 2006 American action film directed by Zack Snyder, based on Frank Miller and Lynn Varley's 1998 graphic novel of the same name5. The movie is a fictionalized retelling of the Battle of Thermopylae, where King Leonidas leads 300 Spartans against Xerxes and his massive Persian army7. An unfinished cut premiered at the Austin Butt-Numb-A-Thon on December 9, 2006, with the full release hitting U.S. theaters on March 9, 20075.

The meme didn't wait for the theatrical release. The trailer alone was enough to kick things off. On October 10, 2006, YTMND user heksaur created the first "This is Sparta" page on the site, months before the film opened4. This made YTMND the original breeding ground for Sparta remixes before YouTube took over as the primary distribution platform.

Origin & Background

Platform
YTMND (early remixes), YouTube (mass spread)
Key People
Frank Miller, Zack Snyder
Date
2006 (trailer), 2007 (film release)
Year
2006

*300* is a 2006 American action film directed by Zack Snyder, based on Frank Miller and Lynn Varley's 1998 graphic novel of the same name. The movie is a fictionalized retelling of the Battle of Thermopylae, where King Leonidas leads 300 Spartans against Xerxes and his massive Persian army. An unfinished cut premiered at the Austin Butt-Numb-A-Thon on December 9, 2006, with the full release hitting U.S. theaters on March 9, 2007.

The meme didn't wait for the theatrical release. The trailer alone was enough to kick things off. On October 10, 2006, YTMND user heksaur created the first "This is Sparta" page on the site, months before the film opened. This made YTMND the original breeding ground for Sparta remixes before YouTube took over as the primary distribution platform.

How It Spread

The YTMND community ran with the scene hard. A total of 85 "This is Sparta" pages were created on YTMND between 2006 and 2009, including the popular Sparta Remix, which set the audio to an electronic beat. The over-dramatic nature of the scene made it perfect for mashups, and creators layered the "This is Sparta!" scream over everything from video game footage to other movie clips.

When *300* opened in March 2007, it grossed nearly half a billion dollars worldwide. But its real impact was on the teen lexicon. The movie was intentionally bombastic and ridiculous, which made it infinitely quotable among high schoolers and college students. The Sparta kick became shorthand for any dramatic rejection or power move.

The meme crossed over into mainstream parody fast. *South Park* devoted an entire episode to a *300* homage. *Robot Chicken* produced its own spoof. The MTV Movie Awards gave a short film parody called "United 300" an award in 2007. The satirical movie *Meet the Spartans* released in 2008, earning nearly $85 million at the box office despite a 2% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, riding the cultural momentum of the original.

Platforms

4chanYouTubeRedditForumsSocial media

Timeline

2006-01-01

This Is Sparta first appeared on Cinema / Internet

2007-2009

Peak meme saturation

2008-01-01

This Is Sparta reached mainstream popularity and media coverage

2009-01-01

Brands and companies started using This Is Sparta in marketing

2010-present

Declining usage, primarily nostalgia

2011-01-01

This Is Sparta entered the broader pop culture conversation

April 2006

Meme begins spreading immediately

March 2006

300 releases in theaters

View on Google Trends

How to Use This Meme

The "This Is Sparta!" meme works in several common formats:

1

Audio remix: Take the "This is Sparta!" audio clip and layer it over other footage, often at the moment of a kick, push, or dramatic rejection.

2

Real-life recreation: Film yourself or someone else kicking an object (or person) while shouting the line. Pool parties and school hallways were popular settings.

3

Text catchphrase: Drop "THIS IS SPARTA!" into comment sections, group chats, or social media posts as a response to any situation involving defiance, rejection, or dramatic escalation.

4

Setup-punchline format: Replace "Sparta" with something else relevant to the context ("This is FINALS WEEK!", "This is MY HOUSE!") while keeping the dramatic delivery.

Create Your Own

Cultural Impact

The "This Is Sparta!" line crossed from internet meme to mainstream pop culture faster than most memes of its era. Multiple TV shows referenced it, including *South Park* and *Robot Chicken*. An entire parody film, *Meet the Spartans*, was built around the joke.

The AP exam prank of 2008 showed the meme's reach among American teenagers. What started as a Facebook group between two friends at a New York high school spread across the country, forcing teachers to acknowledge it. The incident is now cited as an early example of how social media could mobilize large groups around a shared joke.

Gerard Butler's willingness to lean into the meme kept it alive for years. His 2015 "This is Sparta!" moment with Djokovic at the U.S. Open went viral again, proving the line still had pull nearly a decade after the film. The scene's merchandise also had staying power, with countless "300" shirts and Sparta-themed products available online years after the film's release.

Full History

The "This Is Sparta!" meme arrived at a perfect moment in internet history. In late 2006, YTMND was still a major hub for audio-visual shitposts, and the *300* trailer gave remixers exactly what they needed: a short, loud, dramatic clip with a clean audio hook. Heksaur's October 2006 YTMND page was first, but the flood followed quickly. The Sparta Remix format, where the "This is Sparta!" shout was cut and looped into a beat, became its own sub-genre.

By spring 2007, the meme had jumped from niche internet communities to the broader web. YouTube became the primary home for Sparta content as the platform's user base exploded. The scene's appeal was universal: you didn't need to understand *300*'s plot or know anything about ancient Greece. A guy screams a line and kicks someone into a hole. That's the whole joke, and it scaled infinitely.

One of the most unexpected chapters came on April 29, 2008, when two New York high schoolers, Kevin Xu and Jake Bryant, started a Facebook group encouraging students to write "This is Sparta!" in the essay section of their AP exams and then cross it out. The prank exploited a rule that graders couldn't count anything crossed out against the student. The group went viral across American high schools. Teachers had to address it in classrooms. Xu later wrote about the experience in his Stanford application essay and believes it helped him get accepted.

In an interview with HuffPost, Xu described feeling "the true meaning of virality" for the first time. "This was still the early days of social media," he said, "and having something go from no one knowing to thousands knowing showed me the power of making something and it actually impacting people's lives thanks to the internet". The kicker: Xu had never actually watched *300*.

The meme maintained cultural relevance well beyond its initial peak. In September 2015, tennis star Novak Djokovic recreated the moment with Gerard Butler himself after winning the U.S. Open final. Djokovic had invited Butler to sit in his player's box, and after his four-set victory over Roger Federer, the two screamed "This is Sparta!" together on camera. Djokovic's wife Jelena posted the video, capturing what one journalist described as "her husband acting like a kid with his idiot friend".

Urban Dictionary accumulated multiple definitions over the years, with users describing the phrase as "a signal of defiance" used when "the person to whom the phrase is directed simply does not understand whom they're dealing with". The entry also included an absurdly long list of appropriate moments to yell "Sparta!", from "while defending Greece" to "during an orgasm" to "when the teacher calls on you".

Fun Facts

The original YTMND was posted on October 10, 2006, five months before *300* even hit theaters.

Kevin Xu, creator of the AP exam prank, used the experience in his Stanford application and got in. He still hadn't watched *300* at the time of his 2017 interview.

*300* grossed over $468.8 million worldwide, making it the tenth highest-grossing film of 2007.

The bottomless pit Leonidas kicks the messenger into has "no logical reason for being there but looks really, really, awesome," according to Urban Dictionary users.

Novak Djokovic and Gerard Butler's 2015 U.S. Open "This is Sparta!" video was filmed and posted by Djokovic's wife Jelena.

Derivatives & Variations

This Is [Place] Format

Variations replacing Sparta with other locations or concepts

(2006)

Other 300 Quotes

Related memes using other quotations from the film

(2006)

Frequently Asked Questions

This Is Sparta

2006Catchphrase / video remixsemi-active

Also known as: THIS IS SPARTA · Sparta Kick · Sparta Remix · 300 Kick

This Is Sparta is a 2006 viral meme from the 2007 film 300, featuring King Leonidas screaming the catchphrase before kicking a Persian messenger into a pit, spawning countless remixes and parodies.

"This Is Sparta!" is a catchphrase meme from the 2007 film *300*, where King Leonidas (played by Gerard Butler) screams the line before kicking a Persian messenger into a bottomless pit. The scene went viral before the movie even hit theaters, spawning remixes, parodies, and real-world pranks that made it one of the most quoted lines of the late 2000s internet.

TL;DR

This Is Sparta a famous movie quote from '300' (2006) that became a popular meme phrase used to express dramatic defiance or determination in response to overwhelming odds.

Overview

The meme centers on a specific scene from *300* where a Persian messenger demands Sparta's submission to King Xerxes. After the messenger threatens Leonidas with the words "This is madness!", Leonidas replies "This is Sparta!" and boots him into a deep well. The combination of Gerard Butler's over-the-top delivery, the absurdly dramatic kick, and the bottomless pit with no logical reason for existing made the moment irresistible to the internet.

The format typically involves either remixing the original audio over other footage, recreating the kick in real life, or dropping the catchphrase into unrelated contexts as a declaration of defiance. The line works as both a power move and a punchline, which gave it legs across dozens of formats.

*300* is a 2006 American action film directed by Zack Snyder, based on Frank Miller and Lynn Varley's 1998 graphic novel of the same name. The movie is a fictionalized retelling of the Battle of Thermopylae, where King Leonidas leads 300 Spartans against Xerxes and his massive Persian army. An unfinished cut premiered at the Austin Butt-Numb-A-Thon on December 9, 2006, with the full release hitting U.S. theaters on March 9, 2007.

The meme didn't wait for the theatrical release. The trailer alone was enough to kick things off. On October 10, 2006, YTMND user heksaur created the first "This is Sparta" page on the site, months before the film opened. This made YTMND the original breeding ground for Sparta remixes before YouTube took over as the primary distribution platform.

Origin & Background

Platform
YTMND (early remixes), YouTube (mass spread)
Key People
Frank Miller, Zack Snyder
Date
2006 (trailer), 2007 (film release)
Year
2006

*300* is a 2006 American action film directed by Zack Snyder, based on Frank Miller and Lynn Varley's 1998 graphic novel of the same name. The movie is a fictionalized retelling of the Battle of Thermopylae, where King Leonidas leads 300 Spartans against Xerxes and his massive Persian army. An unfinished cut premiered at the Austin Butt-Numb-A-Thon on December 9, 2006, with the full release hitting U.S. theaters on March 9, 2007.

The meme didn't wait for the theatrical release. The trailer alone was enough to kick things off. On October 10, 2006, YTMND user heksaur created the first "This is Sparta" page on the site, months before the film opened. This made YTMND the original breeding ground for Sparta remixes before YouTube took over as the primary distribution platform.

How It Spread

The YTMND community ran with the scene hard. A total of 85 "This is Sparta" pages were created on YTMND between 2006 and 2009, including the popular Sparta Remix, which set the audio to an electronic beat. The over-dramatic nature of the scene made it perfect for mashups, and creators layered the "This is Sparta!" scream over everything from video game footage to other movie clips.

When *300* opened in March 2007, it grossed nearly half a billion dollars worldwide. But its real impact was on the teen lexicon. The movie was intentionally bombastic and ridiculous, which made it infinitely quotable among high schoolers and college students. The Sparta kick became shorthand for any dramatic rejection or power move.

The meme crossed over into mainstream parody fast. *South Park* devoted an entire episode to a *300* homage. *Robot Chicken* produced its own spoof. The MTV Movie Awards gave a short film parody called "United 300" an award in 2007. The satirical movie *Meet the Spartans* released in 2008, earning nearly $85 million at the box office despite a 2% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, riding the cultural momentum of the original.

Platforms

4chanYouTubeRedditForumsSocial media

Timeline

2006-01-01

This Is Sparta first appeared on Cinema / Internet

2007-2009

Peak meme saturation

2008-01-01

This Is Sparta reached mainstream popularity and media coverage

2009-01-01

Brands and companies started using This Is Sparta in marketing

2010-present

Declining usage, primarily nostalgia

2011-01-01

This Is Sparta entered the broader pop culture conversation

April 2006

Meme begins spreading immediately

March 2006

300 releases in theaters

View on Google Trends

How to Use This Meme

The "This Is Sparta!" meme works in several common formats:

1

Audio remix: Take the "This is Sparta!" audio clip and layer it over other footage, often at the moment of a kick, push, or dramatic rejection.

2

Real-life recreation: Film yourself or someone else kicking an object (or person) while shouting the line. Pool parties and school hallways were popular settings.

3

Text catchphrase: Drop "THIS IS SPARTA!" into comment sections, group chats, or social media posts as a response to any situation involving defiance, rejection, or dramatic escalation.

4

Setup-punchline format: Replace "Sparta" with something else relevant to the context ("This is FINALS WEEK!", "This is MY HOUSE!") while keeping the dramatic delivery.

Create Your Own

Cultural Impact

The "This Is Sparta!" line crossed from internet meme to mainstream pop culture faster than most memes of its era. Multiple TV shows referenced it, including *South Park* and *Robot Chicken*. An entire parody film, *Meet the Spartans*, was built around the joke.

The AP exam prank of 2008 showed the meme's reach among American teenagers. What started as a Facebook group between two friends at a New York high school spread across the country, forcing teachers to acknowledge it. The incident is now cited as an early example of how social media could mobilize large groups around a shared joke.

Gerard Butler's willingness to lean into the meme kept it alive for years. His 2015 "This is Sparta!" moment with Djokovic at the U.S. Open went viral again, proving the line still had pull nearly a decade after the film. The scene's merchandise also had staying power, with countless "300" shirts and Sparta-themed products available online years after the film's release.

Full History

The "This Is Sparta!" meme arrived at a perfect moment in internet history. In late 2006, YTMND was still a major hub for audio-visual shitposts, and the *300* trailer gave remixers exactly what they needed: a short, loud, dramatic clip with a clean audio hook. Heksaur's October 2006 YTMND page was first, but the flood followed quickly. The Sparta Remix format, where the "This is Sparta!" shout was cut and looped into a beat, became its own sub-genre.

By spring 2007, the meme had jumped from niche internet communities to the broader web. YouTube became the primary home for Sparta content as the platform's user base exploded. The scene's appeal was universal: you didn't need to understand *300*'s plot or know anything about ancient Greece. A guy screams a line and kicks someone into a hole. That's the whole joke, and it scaled infinitely.

One of the most unexpected chapters came on April 29, 2008, when two New York high schoolers, Kevin Xu and Jake Bryant, started a Facebook group encouraging students to write "This is Sparta!" in the essay section of their AP exams and then cross it out. The prank exploited a rule that graders couldn't count anything crossed out against the student. The group went viral across American high schools. Teachers had to address it in classrooms. Xu later wrote about the experience in his Stanford application essay and believes it helped him get accepted.

In an interview with HuffPost, Xu described feeling "the true meaning of virality" for the first time. "This was still the early days of social media," he said, "and having something go from no one knowing to thousands knowing showed me the power of making something and it actually impacting people's lives thanks to the internet". The kicker: Xu had never actually watched *300*.

The meme maintained cultural relevance well beyond its initial peak. In September 2015, tennis star Novak Djokovic recreated the moment with Gerard Butler himself after winning the U.S. Open final. Djokovic had invited Butler to sit in his player's box, and after his four-set victory over Roger Federer, the two screamed "This is Sparta!" together on camera. Djokovic's wife Jelena posted the video, capturing what one journalist described as "her husband acting like a kid with his idiot friend".

Urban Dictionary accumulated multiple definitions over the years, with users describing the phrase as "a signal of defiance" used when "the person to whom the phrase is directed simply does not understand whom they're dealing with". The entry also included an absurdly long list of appropriate moments to yell "Sparta!", from "while defending Greece" to "during an orgasm" to "when the teacher calls on you".

Fun Facts

The original YTMND was posted on October 10, 2006, five months before *300* even hit theaters.

Kevin Xu, creator of the AP exam prank, used the experience in his Stanford application and got in. He still hadn't watched *300* at the time of his 2017 interview.

*300* grossed over $468.8 million worldwide, making it the tenth highest-grossing film of 2007.

The bottomless pit Leonidas kicks the messenger into has "no logical reason for being there but looks really, really, awesome," according to Urban Dictionary users.

Novak Djokovic and Gerard Butler's 2015 U.S. Open "This is Sparta!" video was filmed and posted by Djokovic's wife Jelena.

Derivatives & Variations

This Is [Place] Format

Variations replacing Sparta with other locations or concepts

(2006)

Other 300 Quotes

Related memes using other quotations from the film

(2006)

Frequently Asked Questions