AHC/WI - No Greco-Persian Wars

[Sperglord]

Suppose upon Cyrus' conquest of the Lydian Empire, Kroisos' Greek subjects give in to the Persian demands and rebel against their overlord. With their autonomy intact, they don't get into the conflict that escalated into what it did IOTL.

So, in the short run, we have a Greek Western Anatolia being able to flourish and prosper and even project its culture into the depths of the Persian Empire, and we have a mainland Greece not hindered by the unnecessary expenses of the wars in question, albeit divided into the myriad of small city states vying for hegemony over the region.

Question is... what about the long run, say, up until 200-ish BCE? What cultural and political implications does this have? Who's going to unite the mainland? Macedon or not, are there going to be Greek fantasies of conquering the Persian Empire, or any imperial ambitions at all outside of Greece?

 

[UCB79]

Suppose upon Cyrus' conquest of the Lydian Empire, Kroisos' Greek subjects give in to the Persian demands and rebel against their overlord. With their autonomy intact, they don't get into the conflict that escalated into what it did IOTL.

So, in the short run, we have a Greek Western Anatolia being able to flourish and prosper and even project its culture into the depths of the Persian Empire, and we have a mainland Greece not hindered by the unnecessary expenses of the wars in question, albeit divided into the myriad of small city states vying for hegemony over the region.

Question is... what about the long run, say, up until 200-ish BCE? What cultural and political implications does this have? Who's going to unite the mainland? Macedon or not, are there going to be Greek fantasies of conquering the Persian Empire, or any imperial ambitions at all outside of Greece?

I can't see hardly anyone in Greece even
thinking of taking on, much less conquering,
the great Persian Empire in classical Greece
IOTL(that had to wait until Alexander). The
Greeks of that time strike me as being too
wrapped up in their own concerns.

 

[terranova210486]

None of those crappy 300 movies will be made

 

[Carl Schwamberger]

If the Romans go conquering east wards they won't be picking up pieces of Greek run empires & kingdoms. The Greek influence will be less and other cultures, like Persian more dominate. Thats going to influence the overall culture of Rome and the west.

 

[dandan_noodles]

So, in the short run, we have a Greek Western Anatolia being able to flourish and prosper and even project its culture into the depths of the Persian Empire, and we have a mainland Greece not hindered by the unnecessary expenses of the wars in question, albeit divided into the myriad of small city states vying for hegemony over the region.

I don't think that on balance, the Greeks are going to be projecting culture into the Persian empire; rather the reverse, judging by the balance of wealth and power. The empire has way more stuff that Greeks want than Greeks have that Persians want, including staggering quantities of silver with which to fight other Greeks.