Glossary
Elite holders of status and power, named here as optimates.
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Topic brief
A Jiang Lens evidence brief for this topic, built from source tags, transcript matches, and linked source refs.
upper nobility
Elite holders of status and power, named here as optimates.
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Key Notes
model
Major conflicts are between upper nobility and lower nobility, not rich and poor; aspirational middle and rich people want more while the poor are inert.
model
His alternative explanation is internal class/status conflict: upper nobility in both cities prefers preserving the status quo to winning wars that might empower lower-nobility rivals.
model
The defensive strategy makes sense, in Jiang's model, because Pericles represents upper nobility and wants to wait out war rather than change the status quo.
model
Sparta's decision not to destroy Athens is interpreted as evidence that Athens and Sparta were not true external enemies; upper nobility across the cities were socially aligned and used war to kill off lower-nobility pressure.
Timestamped Evidence
Transcript
"Okay. So, to remind you, okay, the conflict arises between upper nobility and lower nobility. So, upper nobility are just the optimists, people like,..."
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"The poor don't do anything. Okay? The poor just, like, I'm poor, I'm useless, I'll just sit and die. Okay? That's what poor people..."
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"...that the very basis of conflict in society is between the upper nobility and the upper nobility."
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"Okay? Do you understand? The upper nobility is only interested in maintaining the status quo. They're very conservative. They don't like wars because you..."
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"Athens is trying to maintain the status quo The war starts in 431 B.C. And a lot of people are saying, Pericles, hey, let's..."
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"...if you understand there's a internal conflict in Athens between the upper nobility and the lower nobility. Pericles represents the upper nobility he wants..."
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"...Okay? Does that make sense? So after Pericles dies the low nobility become ascendant. Okay? And because of this war they propose an aggressive..."
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"He laid siege to Athens in 404 BCE and then Athens had no choice but to surrender because they were out of food. Okay?..."
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"...Okay? Um but another explanation is well guess what guys? The upper nobility of Sparta and the upper nobility of Athens they're good friends..."
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"...food. It's called a grain dole. Okay? And so, now the nobility wants to go fight more wars. What they do is they bribe..."
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"and have some but what more ok so usually between the upper nobility and the lower nobility and we see this throughout human history..."
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"...so the major problem is labor production the conflict between the upper nobility and the low nobility and the way that we resolve the..."
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Relevant Lectures And Readings
Reading
A source-grounded reading of Jiang's Roman lecture: Rome begins as a poor borderland war machine, invents a liberty of obedience, uses Greek historians and Augustan poets to launder violence, and reaches its deepest secret...
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Greek history begins with geography, but it ends here as a theory of abundance, blocked status, and pointless war: when the line stops moving, the young do not overthrow the old order directly.
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Related Topics
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