OSTRACISM (Gk. krimmo-a6s. ostrakismos, from pasiOtv, ost rak izci , to ostracize. from ismrpahav, ostrukon, potsherd ). A method of political procedure in ancient Athens, whereby a citizen whose presence seemed dangerous to the State might lie exiled for a time. It was said to have been introduced by Clisthenes in his re form of the Athenian constitution after the ex pulsion of Hippias (n.c. 510). but the first use of it seems to have been made in B.C. when Hippifyehus, son of Charmus of Collytus, was exiled, on account of his connection with the Pisistratid:e. Two others of this party fol lowed, and in B.C. 485-44 Xanthippus, father of Pericles. was a victim. while a year or two later Aristides was banished. After the Per sian wars the process was less frequently em ployed, though it was still used when party strife waxed hot and it seemed necessary to secure a verdict in favor of one policy. Among the ostracized were Themistocles. Simon. Thucyd ides. son of Melesias, and Hyperbolus, whose ex ile really resulted in the abandonment of the sys. The vote had been intended to decide be ummcen Nicias and .Alcibiades, but they combined their forces against the much less influential Ily perbolus. Ostracism did not inflict any stigma upon a man, nor were his property or civil rights in any way disturbed. It simply required
him to leave the country for ten year in order that he might exercise no influence on the course of politics. It thus afforded a means of deciding between rival leaders and their policies, and in sured to the victor an opportunity to carry out his plans undisturbed by violent opposition. Every year, in the sixth prytany, the assembly voted whether a vote of ostracism should be taken during the year. if the decision was af firmative, a day was chosen in the eighth prytany, the market was fenced off, and through ten gates the members of the ten tribes entered to deposit the potsherds on which was written the name of the man whose ostracism was sought. To make the decision valid. at least 6000 votes were required, hut of these a plurality seems to have sufficed to ostracize. Besides the Histories of Greece by Grote, Curtius, Busolt, Holm, and E. Meyer, consult: Gilbert, The Constitutional Antiquities of Athens and Sparta, English trans lation (London, 1895) ; Hermann, Lehrburh der griechischrn ntiquitfiten. I., "Staatsaltertiimer." by Thumser ( Freiburg, 1892); Busolt, Griceli ische Stauts- and Rechtsaltertiimer (Munich, 1892).