How did Alexander the Great defeat Sparta?

Alexander’s regent, Antipater, made peace with the Thracians (with whom he had been warring), marched south, and won a hard-fought battle near Megalopolis (331). Agis was killed, and Spartan resistance was broken.

How did Sparta become weak?

Sparta entered its long-term decline after a severe military defeat to Epaminondas of Thebes at the Battle of Leuctra. As Spartan citizenship was inherited by blood, Sparta increasingly faced a helot population that vastly outnumbered its citizens.

When did Sparta become weak?

Sparta’s supremacy was broken following the Battle of Leuctra in 371 BC. It was never able to regain its military superiority and was finally absorbed by the Achaean League in the 2nd century BC.

What did the Spartans say to Alexander the Great?

The Spartans, deployed for battle, responded: “come and take them!”

Did Alexander ever fight the Spartans?

The Battle of Megalopolis was fought in 331 BC between Spartan led forces and Macedonia. Alexander’s regent Antipater led the Macedonians to victory over King Agis III.

Was Alexander the Great weak?

Although Alexander conquered much of the known world during his time, his empire never survived him. His strength when he was alive became a weakness after his death. Civil war soon broke out, and what Alexander built in one generation was destroyed in the next.

What was wrong with Sparta?

5. Spartan youths were ritualistically beaten and flogged. One of Sparta’s most brutal practices involved a so-called “contest of endurance” in which adolescents were flogged—sometimes to the death—in front of an altar at the sanctuary of Artemis Orthia.

Did Alexander fight the Spartans?

What happened to Sparta during Alexander the Great’s reign?

Sparta by Alexander’s lifetime was anything but. The constant Athenian raids and costly battles of the Peloponnesian War had cost them a huge amount of their precious Spartiate forces and had permanently destroyed the fertility of much of the Peloponnese.

Why didn’t Alexander the Great invade the rest of Greece?

Alexander, seeking to unify the greeks, needed a rallying call. One of those calls was to alienate Sparta from the rest of Greece. Simply put, he didnt invade them because they were more worth to him as outsiders. He continuosly pointed out that the Spartans stood apart from the now unif…

Could Sparta have taken over Greece and threatened its hegemony?

Sparta could not threaten Greek hegemony-it’s army was exhausted, its alliances broken, and the reason it was so powerful in the Peloponnesian war was the inferior Athenian army, and Sparta’s network of anti-Athenian alliances ranging from Sicily to Thebes to Persia. With that alliance in tatters, it would be on its own.

How did Sparta become part of the Hellenic League?

Once Antipater (Macedonian regent left in control of the European parts of Alexander’s rapidly expanding empire) defeated King Agis III of Sparta the city and those rebellious city-states which cast their lot with the Spartans were essentially pardoned and forced to join the Hellenic League.