evidence
He uses the Sacred Band of Thebes and Macedonia as a chain of copied military-cohesion systems, culminating in soldiers who stand in place to die so others can escape.
Topic brief
A Jiang Lens evidence brief for this topic, built from source tags, transcript matches, and linked source refs.
Thebes
Jiang treats the Sacred Band of Thebes as the secret of Theban power because it showed that trained volunteers and commoners could become elite soldiers.
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Key Notes
evidence
Philip's years as a hostage in Thebes gave him access to the leading military power's generals and made Theban military organization his practical school.
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model
Jiang treats the Sacred Band of Thebes as the secret of Theban power because it showed that trained volunteers and commoners could become elite soldiers.
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model
The Theban tactical innovation was to slant the phalanx so the Sacred Band struck the enemy's best troops first, causing a psychological break in enemy formation.
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diagnosis
Jiang says Philip took the Theban lesson that a disciplined army could become invincible and resolved to transform a Macedonian army that had been destroyed by Illyria and Thrace.
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evidence
Jiang says Philip's modern, disciplined, loyal army destroyed Athens and Thebes in the final opposition battle of 338 BCE and united Greece.
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diagnosis
The Sacred Band's destruction is presented as an irony: the Theban institution that taught Philip how to build a great army was destroyed by Philip in its final act.
diagnosis
Thebes treated Philip well because it underestimated Macedon and assumed the major powers were Sparta, Athens, and Thebes, just as people today might dismiss North Korea against China and Japan.
Timestamped Evidence
Transcript
"call the system the sacred band um of 300 soldiers and they were again lovers okay but this is really important for you guys..."
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"...this later on but phil ii learned learn all this from thebes and at first macedonia and thebes were allies but phil ii was..."
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"...the battle of uh zirconia macedonia fought against the commandment of thebes and athens and macedonia destroyed thebes and athens okay because macedonia basically..."
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"...369 to 365, for about five years, he's a hostage in Thebes. The reason why is Macedon lost the war to Thebes, and to..."
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"They become his mentors. Okay? So what makes Thebes so effective is the idea of the Sacred Band of Thebes. This is the secret..."
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"...they're all dead. Okay? So that is the major innovation of Thebes at this time. Okay? And from the best generals of Thebes, okay,..."
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"...that make sense? All right? So that's what he learned in Thebes. It is possible for you to transform your army in a way..."
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"...him. So in Tyrrhenia, the two nations that opposed him are Thebes and Athens. But at this time, the problem is the great generals..."
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"...basically sacrificed themselves so the other army, the other soldiers of Thebes could escape. Okay? And so the sacred band of Thebes was forever..."
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"Okay? And next class, we will discuss this. All right? So does it make sense to you? Okay? And again, what we will understand..."
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"...time ever thought Macedon could ever challenge Sparta or Athens or Thebes. Okay? No one did. Okay? So it was just overconfidence. Second thing..."
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"...sex, okay? Now, Dionysus, the legend is, he was born in Thebes to a Theban princess. And his father was Zeus, the king of..."
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Relevant Lectures And Readings
Reading
The lecture asks how evil triumphs and answers with a disturbing mechanism: break the taboo publicly, remove retreat, and the group becomes one body.
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Reading
Greek culture did not spread because everyone recognized its beauty.
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Related Topics
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