Ostraka for Ostracism
5th cent. B.C.
Ostracism was a unique type of voting intended as a means of protecting the city against aspirants to despotic power. The result of the ostracism vote was valid only if there was a quorum of 6000 present. Each voter scratched or painted on a potsherd the name of the man he thought most undesirable. The “candidate” with the greatest number of votes against him was obliged to withdraw from Athens for ten years. Ostracism was decreed by Kleisthenes and was used through most of the 5th cent. B.C. In many cases it came to be used as a tactical manoeuvre between rival politicians.
Displayed in the Museum of the Ancient Agora of Athens