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.

Purpose

A practice like ostracism, carried out by thousands of people over many decades of an evolving political situation and culture, cannot express a single monumental purpose. Still, observations can be made about outcomes, as well as about the kinds of scenarios its designers and users may have envisioned it being deployed against.

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The first rash of people ostracised in the decade after the defeat of the first Persian invasion at Marathon in 492 BC were all related or connected to the tyrant Peisistratos, who had controlled Athens for 36 years up to 527 BC. After his son Hippias was deposed with Spartan help in 510 BC, the family sought refuge with the Persians, and nearly twenty years later Hippias landed with their invasion force at Marathon. Tyranny and Persian aggression were paired threats facing the new democratic regime at Athens, and ostracism was used against both.

Related Topics:
Persian - Marathon - 492 BC - Tyrant - Peisistratos - 527 BC - Hippias - Spartan - 510 BC

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Tyranny and democracy had both arisen at Athens out of clashes between regional and factional groups organised around Big Men, among whom was Cleisthenes himself. But in many of its features the democracy strove to reduce the role of these factional and regional alliances as the focus of citizen loyalties. Ostracism, too, may have been intended to work in the same direction: by temporarily decapitating a faction, it could help de-escalate a confrontation that might have gone on to threaten the order of the state.

Related Topics:
Tyranny - Democracy - Athens - Cleisthenes

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In later decades when the threat of tyranny was remote, ostracism seems to have been used as a way to decide between radically opposed policies. For instance, in 443 BC Thucydides son of Milesias (not the historian) was ostracised. He led an aristocratic opposition to Athenian imperialism and in particular to Perikles' building program on the acropolis, which was funded with money taken from Athenian allies/subjects notionally to carry on the fight against Persia. By expelling Thucydides the Athenian people sent a clear message about the direction of Athenian policy. (Plutarch Life of Pericles 11–12, 14) Similar but more controversial claims have been made about the ostracism of Cimon in 461 BC.

Related Topics:
Tyranny - 443 BC - Thucydides son of Milesias - Perikles' - Acropolis - Persia - Plutarch - Cimon - 461 BC

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The motives of individual citizens actually submitting names to the pool cannot, of course, be known. Many of the surviving ostraka name people otherwise unattested – they may well be just someone the submitter happened not to like. In such a case there was no likelihood of the targeted person ending up having to pack his bags for ten years, but the small moment of private spite may be seen as a secular, civic variant of Athenian curse tablets (studied in scholarly literature under the Latin name defixiones), where small dolls were wrapped in lead sheets written with curses and then buried, sometimes stuck through with nails for good measure.

Related Topics:
Curse - ''defixiones''

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In one famous anecdote about Aristides, known as "the Just", who was ostracised in 482, an illiterate citizen, not recognising him, came up to ask him to write the name Aristides on his ostrakon. When Aristides asked why, the man replied it was because he was sick of hearing him being called "the Just". (Plutarch Life of Aristides 7.7) Perhaps just the sense that someone had gotten too big for his boots to be good for a democratic society was enough to get his name onto ostraka.

Related Topics:
Aristides - 482 - Plutarch

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