Pseudo-history, and related issues

[Jona Lendering]

He could have made a comparison with the Phoenicians which were the closest to the Greeks in many aspects, and whose cultural identity indeed somehow withered away under the Persian dominion to the point that they practically ceased to exist as a historical force in the Hellenistic period.

We have not many sources and I am unaware of archaeological evidence for "persification". Where we do have sources (Babylonia, Egypt), we witness adaptation, but no withering away. You may be right, but I would love to see more evidence.

That being said, I think that you are certainly right that the "what if..."-question must be approached by comparison.