Ostracism

Ostracism (Greek: ὀστρακισμός, ostrakismos) was an Athenian democratic procedure in which any citizen could be expelled from the city-state of Athens for ten years. While some instances clearly expressed popular anger at the citizen, ostracism was often used preemptively as a way of neutralizing someone thought to be a threat to the state or a potential tyrant. The word ostracism continues to be used for various forms of shunning.

Procedure

The term ostracism is derived from the pottery shards that were used as voting tokens, called ostraka (singular: ostrakon; ὄστρακον) in Greek. Broken pottery, abundant and virtually free, served as a kind of scrap paper (in contrast to papyrus, which was imported from Egypt as a high-quality writing surface, and too costly to be disposable).

Each year the Athenians were asked in the assembly whether they wished to hold an ostracism. The question was put in the sixth of the ten months used for state business under the democracy (January or February in the modern Gregorian calendar). The process of ostracism could be divided into five elements according to Philochorus: 1) It was a two-stage process, 2) it was open to all Athens citizens, 3) it was overseen by outside officials, 4) must meet a specific quorum, 5) regulated penalties.