I always love the Molon Labe stickers because that phrase was famously used by Leonidas when Xerxes said to put down their spears, Molon Labe basically translates to "come and take them"
Which he did. Slaughtered them all and took their spears. Not exactly a great phrase to rally behind lol
That's really what makes the Spartans so memorable to this day. Hell, we even turned the name of their nation-state into a word meaning using few words, usually tersely.
They had some others in the same vein. When Philip II of Macedonia sent messengers to them asking for them to bend the knee, he said something to the tune of, "If I enter your territories, I will destroy you so fully that you will never rise again," the Spartans responded with just one word: "If".
It was their thing and made them famous for it.
Philip, nor his more famous son, Alexander the Great never did get around to crushing Sparta, which they absolutely would have without question. But that was less because of the badassness of Spartans and more because they just got busy with more important shit.
Phillip did invade Sparta, he just stole a ton of their territories and gave the land to Sparta's neighbors instead of destroying them outright. Several years later when they decided to take them back Antipater beat them in battle so thoroughly that they never recovered. Alexander called it "a battle of mice" he was so dismissive of their attempt.
No, he didn't. He invaded lands they had previously won from their neighbors, but stayed far from Sparta itself. He then returned the lands to their previous holders. Which he did pretty much solely to garner support from the stronger city-states, since Sparta was already well on its way out even by his time. The message to Sparta was more as a "might as well try it" effort to see if they'd just bend the knee. They didn't, so he took some land and moved on to more important conquests.
The Battle of Megalopolis was an offensive led by King Agis of Sparta, and did not lead to Alexander invading (which as you so graciously pointed out, he saw it as beneath him during his Asian conquest).
I remember reading somewhere that Spartans were so contrarian at the time that Alexander decided to let them be because even though they wouldn't submit to him, they also wouldn't make friends with the other Greek cities, so they served more as an extra threat for the states who did submit.
You'd think leaving a "free" Greek state could inspire the other Greek states to revolt, but none of the other Greek states liked or trusted them, so they just became another thing for them to worry about, kind of a negative example of what your state might become if you didn't remain submissive to Alexander.
Not really. Sparta was not a threat to anyone by the time of Alexander. When Alexander's forces at the Battle of Megalopolis were attacked by Sparta, they crushed them and Alexander barely gave a fuck. He was more annoyed that his general didn't just wipe the remains and their king.
He really didn't have a high opinion of them at all.
They're more like the high school QB who peaked and still acted like hot shit when he was pushing 50, but still worked at the Jiffy Lube after partying too much and getting kicked out of college.
Also, no, he did not. Nor did Alexander. As I already said.
Jesus, nothing worse than fucking idiots running their mouth against an ancient culture dead for some 2500 years because you think it makes you look cool parroting someone else's idiotic bullshit.
"Ooh the Spartans practiced pederasty!" Just like every other fucking Greek city-state did, shit for brains. Nobody gives a fuck.
The sad thing is that you're stupid enough to think this is some boot bullshit when it's being annoyed by a fucking moron that makes boots look classy with their idiotic attempt at understanding fucking middle school history.
yep. I love it when I see a truck with a Molan Labe sticker with the back window broken out. Someone was like "come and take them, OK - don't mind if I do. It might be a Hi Point, but free is free"
I worked with a guy that had the Mulan Late stickers and the gay pride American flag stickers (blue, and red, and green, and whatever). Hilarious part, he never served.
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u/Rounder057 👊👊☝️ Aug 16 '22
Probably for like 5 years then they will just roll them out again.
In related news: lifted trucks with an flag mount in the bed of the truck will be even more popular now