greek poleis

[Paralus]

Your examples of Philip II and Alexander II are flawed: you need to sit back and realise why it might be that Philip desired an aggressive Spartan rump, boxed in by his invasion, to remain. And, for that matter, why his son decided to leave it that way.

Odd, since a politically useful and militarily threatening counterweight to Macedonian hegemony would see to be somewhat "relevant." First you say that Sparta was never a threat outside its own borders, now she is a boogeyman to keep the rest of Greece in line. In any case, history was to prove that leaving Sparta unconquored was a mistake for Alexander.

Well, for starters, one shouldn’t ascribe to another something that other did not write. If you can point me to where, on this thread, I wrote “Sparta was never a threat outside its own bordersâ€