[TheAngryClam]

The great days of Athens were long gone before Alexander. They ended with the city's utter defeat in the Peloponnesian War.

After that, it was doomed to be the Boston of the ancient world- full of history, museums, and universities, and little more.

[GaConfed]

Well, the end of the Peloponesian War certainly did seal the fate of Athens, but it took a few coups and counter coups to bring it down to the backwater that it was when Alexander's boys showed up. It was kind of like a grand old hotel that had become a flop house, with some of the old girl's former beauty showing through if she smiled the right way.