(I would just like to apologize for using the word ancient consistently.)

In the film, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, there are elements in which completely skew the historical perceptions of what the ancient world was like.

An interesting element of the movie was the depiction of the physical structures: the audience’s imagination to life in seeing all the citadels, palaces, and corridors that could have been similar in the ancient world. However, we see that film places a strong emphasis on the conquering of people in these physical spaces. The audience comprehends that, in ancient times, empires would seek out the exotic, mysterious and delectable qualities of certain people to take over their resources. In the film, we see that as soon as the Persians invade the holy city of Alamut, Tus, the successor to the throne, chooses to lather himself in the riches of the conquered nation. 

Another aspect of the film, that is askew to history, is the restructuring of the title ship. The character Dastan, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, was a beggar until the king adopted him. With this, the audience sees that the conventions of a true-bred prince go out the window and learn to appreciate the wisdom of the character king. In scripture, we may also see an account in which a royal family also took in a young child and raised him as one of their own (please refer biblical scripture Exodus 2).

Through the plot, the film allows the audience to fall into a fantastic illusion of an adventuristic world: a magic dagger with time-traveling capabilities. With this story, the film also takes into account the importance of religion. Since in ancient civilizations religious devotion was an important aspect of daily life, the film did a tremendous job to link religion with the plot. We see that the princess of Alamut, who fulfilled the duties of the high priestess, conducted sacred rituals that honored the sacred dagger in a secret chamber: she was responsible for safeguarding the item such that the film revolves around her trying to restore the small knife to the temple.

Nevertheless, the film depicted elements of the ancient world infused with fantastic features in order to bring to life an adventurous story.