Hellenes supporting Persian king. Are they traitors?

[PMBardunias]

I asked the question because it seemed that some believed that the tactical system of Alexander is what allowed him to take on Persia. I was pointing out that the earlier Greeks might have fared just as well on the field.

As to you point about fractiousness, you are very right- Sparta was never a threat because her hegemony was so tenuous back home. It would take some improbable series of events like the Spartans allowing Thebes to raze Athens like they wanted to, and then the Spartans razing Thebes as the Macedonians did, coupled with some sort of inclusive reform like what Lysander may have been hatching to raise the number of homoioi and enfranchise the other members of the league.

I don't think the Persians could have simply bought off the Thracian's though- far better would be the promise of plunder in joining the Greeks. The Greeks would also presumably control the seas and so not have to waste time subduing the coast like Alexander did.

I am always fascinated by cultures that are subject to that Fratricidal/suicidal urge to not let any of their number have power over them. I see this in Greeks, Kelts, Medieval Italians, and Slavs- who would sooner follow avars or Norsemen than elevate one of their own. Perhaps now us. I wonder what drives this.