Quote Originally Posted by The Panda Centurion
By 270 BC, Sparta was effectively destroyed. After the battle of Leuctra in 370 (?) BC, in which Sparta's army was annihalated by that of Thebes, Sparta lost its status as superpower and became a 2nd-rate city-state, with no real power at all. It had exhausted its population of pure Spartans in the Pelloponesian War, and thus had no soldiers, and therefore, no power. If EB is striving for historical accuracy, Sparta should not be a major power (e.g. the Greek faction should not have it as its capital and center) and Spartan Hoplites should be removed from the game.

- Panda
You are absolutely right that Sparta was indeed not nearly as powerful as they were in the 5th century and early 4th century, but to say that had no soldiers and no power is incorrect. To specifically answer your claim that by 270 they were destroyed, in 272 there was an invasion of Lakonia by Pyrrhus. Quite odd, to launch an invasion of someone who is destroyed. Even though they were much weaker, Sparta still carried a lot of gravitas. When Pyrrhus was killed at Argos he had been driven back from the town of Sparta by Spartans, Macedonians, and Athenians, and forced to retreat to Argos. They tried a number of times over the next century to revive their military machine, but they were eventually unsuccessful. I would probably agree with you if this game was dated something like 195 BC as the starting point, but it's not. There is some breath left in Sparta, and if their reforms had been successful, they might have seen a more lively revival. It was their successes taking Megalopolis and Argos at the end of the third century that caused others to take yet another interest in beating them back down.

So they aren't strong, they don't control a large area, but they are able to field an army still, keep invaders away still, and gosh-darnit, they're interesting. As long as they only have one province, what's your gripe? On the first move turn Athens into the greek confederation capital. Don't make that one Spartan unit you don't like. It will cost a lot in the game, believe me. It won't be easy to raise an army of them. There's enough reason to keep them in there. An absolutely excellent and cheap book on this is Paul Cartledge and Anthony Spawforth's Hellenistic and Roman Sparta. They are two of the absolutely most important and best respected historians working on ancient sparta now. You will *not* find anyone better. Their thesis? They challenge the conventional misperception of Spartan 'decline' after the loss of her status as a great power on the battlefield in 371. It's well worth it.