Ostracism
An English word meaning social exclusion, derived from the Athenian practice of banishing citizens by popular vote using pottery shards called ostraka
The Meaning of Ostracism
The word "ostracism" derives from the Greek ostrakon, a pottery shard. In Athens, ostracism was a formal political procedure introduced by Cleisthenes around 508 BCE 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 piece of broken pottery (ostrakon) and deposited it in a designated area. If at least six thousand votes were cast, the person with the most votes was exiled from Athens for ten years without loss of property or citizenship. The procedure was designed to remove anyone who had grown too powerful or popular, thus threatening the democratic system. Famous victims included Themistocles, the hero of Salamis, and Aristides, called "the Just." Archaeological excavations in the Athenian Agora have recovered thousands of ostraka, some showing the same handwriting for different names — suggesting organised political campaigns. The procedure fell into disuse after 416 BCE. The English word "ostracism" now describes any form of social exclusion or deliberate shunning, preserving the concept of collective rejection embedded in the Athenian practice.
Parents
None recorded
Symbols
Fun Fact
Archaeologists found ostraka with the same handwriting bearing different names — evidence that ancient Athenian politicians ran organised smear campaigns just as modern ones do
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
💭 conceptdemocracy, exile
The Athenian democratic practice of banishing citizens for ten years by popular vote, using pottery shards as ballots to prevent tyranny.
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
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)
Miasma
💭 conceptSpiritual pollution from bloodshed
The concept of ritual pollution caused by murder, contact with death, or moral transgression that required purification.
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.
Pharmakos
💭 conceptreligion, ritual
The scapegoat — a person selected to carry the community's pollution and be driven out or ritually sacrificed to purify the city.
Aidos
💭 conceptShame, modesty, and reverence
Aidos was the Greek concept of shame, reverence, and the inner sense of propriety that restrained people from acting dishonourably — the opposite of hubris.
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.
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
Nosos
💭 conceptDisease and Pollution
The Greek concept of disease as moral and spiritual corruption, not merely physical illness.
Miasma
💭 conceptRitual pollution
Miasma was the concept of ritual pollution — a spiritual contamination caused by bloodshed, sacrilege, or contact with death that could infect an entire community.
Aletheia
💭 conceptTruth as unconcealment
The Greek concept of truth, meaning literally unconcealment — truth is what is revealed when hiding and forgetting are stripped away.