Ostracism

Ostracism, in Greek antiquity, political procedure providing for the temporary banishment of a citizen considered dangerous to public welfare. According to Aristotle the law of ostracism was first promulgated in Athens by Cleisthenes in 510 bc, but it was first used in 487-485 bc, against Hipparchus, a relative of Hippias, the tyrant of Athens. Every year the Athenian assembly voted by a show of hands whether it wanted an ostracism that year. If the decision was affirmative, a public vote was held two months later. Each voter wrote the name of the person he wished to be exiled on a fragment of pottery (Greek, ostracon) and, provided that at least 6,000 valid ostraka were counted, the person had to leave Athens within ten days and remain away for ten years. Ostracism did not inflict any permanent stigma upon the victim, and neither property nor civil rights were lost; in fact the ostracized person might be recalled by vote of the assembly. Among the prominent statesmen known to have been ostracized were Aristides (483 bc), Themistocles (471 bc), and Cimon (461 bc). Hyperbolus, a minor Athenian demagogue, was the last person ostracized (417 bc).