Ostracism
The Athenian democratic practice of banishing citizens for ten years by popular vote, using pottery shards as ballots to prevent tyranny.
The Meaning of Ostracism
Ostracism was introduced to Athens around 508-507 BC by Cleisthenes as a safeguard against tyranny. Once a year, the assembly voted on whether to hold an ostracism. If the vote passed, citizens scratched the name of the person they wished to banish on a pottery shard (ostrakon). If at least 6,000 votes were cast, the person with the most votes was exiled for ten years — without losing citizenship or property. The institution targeted those who had grown too powerful. Prominent victims included Aristides "the Just," Themistocles (hero of Salamis), and Cimon. Aristides was supposedly asked by an illiterate citizen to write "Aristides" on his shard; when asked why, the man said he was tired of hearing Aristides called "the Just." Aristides wrote his own name. The practice fell into disuse after 417 BC when two rival politicians colluded to ostracise an innocent third party named Hyperbolus.
Parents
Cleisthenes (founder)
Symbols
Fun Fact
Thousands of actual ostraka — the pottery shards used as ballots — have been excavated in the Athenian Agora, many with famous names scratched on them. Archaeologists found a cache of 190 pre-prepared ostraka all naming Themistocles in the same few handwriting styles — evidence of an ancient vote-rigging operation. The world's first democratic safeguard against tyranny came with the world's first electoral fraud, proving that ballot manipulation is exactly as old as balloting itself.
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth. See our full guide to English words from Greek mythology.
Explore Further
Ostracism
💭 conceptPolitical science and Athens
An English word meaning social exclusion, derived from the Athenian practice of banishing citizens by popular vote using pottery shards called ostraka
Democracy
💭 conceptPolitical science and Athens
A system of government in which power is held by the people, invented in Athens around 508 BCE and derived from the Greek demos (people) and kratos (power or rule)
Tyranny
💭 conceptPolitical science and Athens
A form of government ruled by a single individual who seized power unconstitutionally, derived from the Greek tyrannos, which originally carried no negative connotation
Ekklesia
💭 conceptpolitics, institutions
The assembly of all male citizens in the Athenian democracy — the sovereign decision-making body that met regularly on the Pnyx hill.
Stasis
💭 conceptpolitics, medicine
Civil faction, sedition, or political strife — the internal division that Greeks feared more than foreign invasion as the greatest threat to the city.
Draconian
💭 conceptHarsh laws, severe punishment, rigid authority
Excessively harsh or severe, from Draco, the Athenian lawgiver whose code prescribed death for nearly every offence.
Plutocracy
💭 conceptPolitical science and language
A form of government in which the wealthy hold power, derived from Ploutos, the Greek god of wealth, combined with kratos, meaning rule or power
Eleutheria
💭 conceptPolitical and personal freedom
The Greek ideal of freedom — both the political liberty of the citizen and the inner freedom of the wise person.
Hēgemonia
💭 conceptpolitics, history
Leadership, supremacy, or the dominant position of one state over others — the claim to lead a voluntary alliance that could easily become imperial control.
Agora
💭 conceptLanguage and civic life
An English word for a public gathering place or marketplace, derived from the Agora of Athens, the civic and commercial centre where democracy, philosophy, and daily commerce intersected
Athenian Kings
💭 conceptDynasty, Athens
The legendary succession of early rulers of Athens from the earth-born Cecrops to the hero-king Theseus
Thucydides
💭 conceptHistory, politics, war
Athenian historian who stripped myth from history in his account of the Peloponnesian War