Ostracism

Ostracism was a procedure under the Athenian democracy where a prominent citizen could be expelled from the city for ten years. Not considered a penalty, the expulsion could be pre-emptive, to remove someone thought to be a threat to the state (or who just seemed too powerful), or it might be a way of diffusing a major confrontation between rival politicians. But the command that it made was a neutral one: We think it better you not be here for a time.

Procedure

The name is derived from the ostraka, (singular ostrakon , ὄστρακον), referring to the potsherds or pieces of broken pottery that were used as the writing surface to nominate people for expulsion. Broken pottery, abundant and virtually free, served as a kind of scrap paper, in contrast to papyrus, which, imported from Egypt as a high-quality writing surface, was too costly for such transitory uses.

Related Topics:
Ostraka - Papyrus - Egypt

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Each year the Athenians were asked in the assembly whether or not they wished to hold an ostracism that year. (The question was put in the sixth of the ten months used for state business under the democracy: equivalent to our January or February.) If they voted yes, then two months later the ostracism was held. In a roped-off area of the agora, citizens would bring potsherds on which they had scratched the name of the citizen they wished to expel and deposit them in urns. First the presiding officials counted the number of ostraka submitted. If a minimum of 6000 was reached, then the ostracism proceeded: the officials sorted the names out into separate piles, and the person receiving the highest number of votes was sent into exile for ten years.

Related Topics:
Assembly - Agora

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The person nominated had ten days to leave the country – if he attempted to return the penalty was death. Notably, the property of the man banished was not confiscated and there was no loss of status. After the ten years he was allowed to return without stigma. It was possible for the assembly to recall an ostracised person ahead of time: before the Persian invasion of 479 BC, an amnesty was declared under which at least two ostracised leaders, Xanthippus, the father of Pericles, and Aristides 'the Just,' are known to have returned. Similarly, Cimon, ostracised 461 BC, was recalled not many years later during an emergency.( Plutarch Life of Cimon 17.2–6)

Related Topics:
Persian invasion - 479 BC - Pericles - Aristides - Cimon - Plutarch

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~