“Alexander, son of Philip, and the Greeks except the Lacedaimonians...” We can very well imagine how completely indifferent the Spartans would have been to this inscription. “Except the Lacedaimonians”— naturally. The Spartans weren’t to be led and ordered around like precious servants. Besides, a pan-Hellenic expedition without a Spartan king in command was not to be taken very seriously. Of course, then, “except the Lacedaimonians.” That’s certainly one point of view. Quite understandable. So, “except the Lacedaimonians” at Granikos, then at Issus, then in the decisive battle where the terrible army the Persians mustered at Arbela was wiped out: it set out for victory from Arbela, and was wiped out. And from this marvelous pan-Hellenic expedition, triumphant, brilliant in every way, celebrated on all sides, glorified as no other has ever been glorified, incomparable, we emerged: the great new Hellenic world. We the Alexandrians, the Antiochians, the Selefkians, and the countless other Greeks of Egypt and Syria, and those in Media, and Persia, and all the rest: with our far-flung supremacy, our flexible policy of judicious integration, and our Common Greek Language which we carried as far as Bactria, as far as the Indians. Talk about Lacedaimonians after that!
