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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Agback" data-source="post: 874724" data-attributes="member: 5328">From about 540 BCE to about 340 BCE the big threat would have been Persia, which took over Anatolia (Asiatic Turkey, in modern terms) at the beginning of that period and was aggressively expansive. Another plausible threat would be the Phoenicians from what is now The Lebanon and Palestine/coastal Israel. The Phoenicians were a maritime people who expanded throughout the Mediterranean. Phoenicia itself fell to the Persians in the late 6th Century BCE, but Phoenician colonies in North Africa, Sicily, and Spain remained independent (and fought against Greek colonists in Sicily) until the rise of Rome about 200 BCE. Yet another plausible threat to Crete would be Egypt, at least before 525 BCE (when it was conquered by Persia) and after teh death of Alexander (when it became independent again under a Makedonian dynasty, the Ptolemies).If all this suggests to you that the Persians are the people you want, read Herodotos.Don't forget that ancient Hellas stretched considerably beyond the  bounds of what is now Greece. Eastern Sicily, the southernmost part of Italy (which is the real Graecea), the eastern shore of the Aegean, and parts of the Black Sea coast of what is now Turkey were all inhabited by Greeks in ancient times.There were four significant city-states on Crete: Cydonia (on Canea Bay), Gortyna (on Mesara Bay), Knossos (near Iraklion), and Itanos (now Sitia).See that the Peloponnesos has three peninsulas on its southern coast? Well, the gulf between the middle one (Cape Tainaron) and the eastern one (Cape Malea) is the Guld of Lakonia. The largest river that flows into it is the Evrotas (Eurotas). Sparta is on the bank of the Eurotas, about 30 miles (45 km) from the sea. From about 640 BCE (Spartan victory in the 2nd Messenian War) the Spartan territory compromised roughly the southernmost 1/3 of the Peloponnesos, and they had a lot of influence throughout the central and western Pelopennesos.Regards,</blockquote>

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