DBWI: Mediterranean as a 'Roman Lake'?

Quite possibly. If Sparta didn't win the Corinthian War, where its decline would have otherwise been triggered, then they may not have gone on to dominate the Eastern Mediterranean and conquer the Persian Empire. This would leave the field open for Rome, which was a rising star even back then.
 
Wouldn't a declining Sparta also create a rising state elsewhere, like in Macedonia?

And I think it's also possible if Carthage somehow gets curbstomped by the Romans, too.
 
Of course, Macedonia was also a rising power. But their invasion of Greece failed and only served to unite the Greeks against their outside enemies. Who knows, perhaps with Spartan losses in several wars, the balance of power is such that they are all too weak to stand against an invasion.

But Carthage was a traditional ally of the King of Epirus, who was also an ally of Sparta. The 'Mediterranean Three', as we call this little alliance in modern times, coordinated a strike on the Roman Republic when Pyrrhus attacked. While Sparta didn't do much in the way of military, they gave support to the Epirites and Carthaginians, which allowed the two do defeat the Romans and divide the land between them.

Now, if we take Sparta out of the equation, Epirus will likely not get the popular support it had and go on to lose its alliance with Carthage (or the alliance is never created in the first place) and then lose the Roman War.
 
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