Ostracism in Athens (487 BC): Voting to Exile Leaders

Ostracism was a procedure of Athenian democracy by which citizens could vote to exile a leading politician for ten years, without charge or trial. Voters wrote the name of their choice on a shard of pottery, an ostrakon, which gave the practice its name. First used in 487 BC and last in about 417–415 BC, it removed some of the most famous figures of classical Athens, and thousands of the original shards survive today.

Origins

The Constitution of the Athenians, a work attributed to Aristotle, credits Cleisthenes with creating the law around 508/507 BC. Its purpose, according to that source, was to guard against anyone seeking to become tyrant, as Pisistratus had done.

The law was not used for about twenty years. The first ostracism took place in 487 BC, shortly after the victory at Marathon, when fears of the exiled tyrant Hippias and his supporters were high. Some historians suggest the law itself was introduced later, in the 480s, but the traditional link with Cleisthenes remains the most widely accepted view.

How it worked

Each year, in the sixth of the ten periods into which the council’s year was divided, the assembly voted by show of hands on whether to hold an ostracism at all. No names were proposed at this stage.

If the answer was yes, an ostracism was held about two months later in the Agora. Citizens entered a fenced area by their tribes and handed in an ostrakon bearing the name of the man they wished to see exiled. Officials counted the shards.

Ancient sources mention a figure of 6,000. Most scholars think this was a quorum, the minimum number of votes for the result to be valid, with the man receiving the most votes being exiled. Others read it as the number of votes needed against a single person.

The person ostracised had ten days to leave Attica and had to stay away for ten years. Unlike ordinary exiles, he kept his property and citizen rights and could return afterwards without disgrace.

Famous victims

The first victim was Hipparchus son of Charmus, a relative of the former tyrant family, in 487 BC. He was followed by Megacles of the Alcmaeonid family in 486 BC and Xanthippus, father of Pericles, in 484 BC.

In 482 BC Aristides, nicknamed “the Just”, was ostracised during a dispute with Themistocles over naval policy. Plutarch tells a famous story that an illiterate voter, not recognising Aristides, asked him to write “Aristides” on his shard; when asked why, the man said he was tired of hearing him called “the Just”. The anecdote may be invented, but it shows how ostracism was remembered.

In 481/480 BC, as Xerxes’ invasion approached, the ostracised men were recalled, and Aristides and Xanthippus served as commanders in the war, Aristides at Salamis.

Later victims included Themistocles himself, around 471 BC, who ended his life in Persian service; Cimon in 461 BC, after his pro-Spartan policy failed; and Thucydides son of Melesias, the main opponent of Pericles, in 443 BC.

The ostraka

Excavations in Athens have recovered roughly 11,000 ostraka or more, many from the Agora and a very large group from the Kerameikos district. They bear the names of well over a hundred different people, showing that votes were spread widely beyond the main contenders.

One discovery stands out. In a well on the north slope of the Acropolis, archaeologists found about 190 ostraka with the name of Themistocles, written by only a small number of hands. They seem to have been prepared in advance for distribution to voters, evidence of organised campaigning, or perhaps of help for those who could not write.

Some shards add comments, insults or drawings, and a few name candidates with their fathers’ names or their demes. They offer a rare direct view of the opinions of ordinary citizens.

The end of ostracism

The last known ostracism, of the politician Hyperbolus, took place in about 417–415 BC. Ancient writers say that he had hoped to see either Nicias or Alcibiades exiled, but the two rivals combined their supporters against him instead.

The outcome was widely seen as an abuse. The procedure was never repealed, but it was never used again. Instead, politicians attacked each other through the courts, especially by prosecuting the proposers of allegedly illegal decrees.

Ostracism beyond Athens

Similar procedures are reported in other Greek cities, including Argos, Megara and Miletus. In Syracuse a version called petalism used olive leaves instead of shards, but according to Diodorus it was quickly abandoned.

Timeline

• c. 508/507 BC: Ostracism law traditionally credited to Cleisthenes.
• 487 BC: First ostracism, of Hipparchus son of Charmus.
• 482 BC: Aristides is ostracised.
• 481/480 BC: Ostracised men recalled before Xerxes’ invasion.
• c. 471 BC: Themistocles is ostracised.
• 461 BC: Cimon is ostracised.
• 443 BC: Thucydides son of Melesias is ostracised.
• c. 417-415 BC: Hyperbolus becomes the last known victim.

Why it matters

Ostracism was a uniquely Athenian experiment in letting citizens limit the power of individuals directly. Its surviving shards give historians personal traces of democratic voters, and the word itself lives on in modern languages to mean social exclusion.