Slitherine

In the Classical Greek list there is an entry called "Upgrade non-Spartan elite hoplites to:"

What exactly does the "elite" part mean? The basic Hoplite is "Average", the upgrade is "Superior". Why does this make reference to "elite hoplites"?

Lower-case elite as representing social stratum or opinion of themselves, and presumably better martial effectiveness (since they are graded Superior) vs "Elite" as a quality grade.