Wasn’t “all of Greece” united under Alexander the Great?
The greco-persian wars happened in the early fifth century BCE, roughly 170-150 years before Alexander became ruler of Macedonia.
During these wars, the greek city states (mainly Athens, Korinth and Sparta as those were the most powerful) fought united against the persians out of necessity and formed the hellenic alliance just before the second war (that one with Xerxes and the Battle of Thermopylae), but again, out of necessitiy and not a sense of shared nationality or other modern ideas.
And after these wars, the greek poleis returned to happily bashing each other again.
Some 50 years after (still around 80 years before Alexander was even born), Sparta and Athens (and their allies/subordinates, so basically all of Greece again) warred each other once more in the Peloponnesian War, but persian king Dareios II supported the spartan war efforts (mostly with money).
I think the meme refers to this clusterfuck of unstable relations between greek city states, but it does not narrow down the time period enough and I’d highly doubt Athens ever actually saw Sparta as a friend, a rival at best during the most peaceful periods maybe.
The greco-persian wars happened in the early fifth century BCE, roughly 170-150 years before Alexander became ruler of Macedonia.
During these wars, the greek city states (mainly Athens, Korinth and Sparta as those were the most powerful) fought united against the persians out of necessity and formed the hellenic alliance just before the second war (that one with Xerxes and the Battle of Thermopylae), but again, out of necessitiy and not a sense of shared nationality or other modern ideas.
And after these wars, the greek poleis returned to happily bashing each other again.
Some 50 years after (still around 80 years before Alexander was even born), Sparta and Athens (and their allies/subordinates, so basically all of Greece again) warred each other once more in the Peloponnesian War, but persian king Dareios II supported the spartan war efforts (mostly with money).
I think the meme refers to this clusterfuck of unstable relations between greek city states, but it does not narrow down the time period enough and I’d highly doubt Athens ever actually saw Sparta as a friend, a rival at best during the most peaceful periods maybe.
Thanks. This makes a lot more sense than applying it to the little I know about Alexander