Banishment by popular vote in Athens
The naked truth of the ancient Olympics
The wild world of Greek philosophers
YOUR GOAL
Master of Quirks of ancient Greece
misslily Athenian Ostracism
Scratch a name on the clay (write it down!) / Ten years and they're far away (bye-bye, yeah!)
misslily The politician Aristides was famously ostracized because citizens grew tired of hearing how incredibly fair he was.
misslily Ostracism was not a criminal punishment, but a preventative measure that let exiles keep their property.
Pottery vote: The modern word 'ostracize' comes directly from 'ostrakon', the Greek word for the broken piece of pottery used as a ballot.
Exclusion from a society or group by common consent. The Athenian assembly annually voted to exile one prominent citizen for ten years using inscribed pottery shards.
Which Athenian political office was exempt from the random lottery and chosen by actual election instead?
What material did ancient Athenians write on to cast their votes for banishing a politician?
What was the name of the stone machine used by Athenians to randomly select citizens for government roles?
How many years did a banished Athenian citizen have to stay away from the city-state?
What was the minimum number of total votes required for an Athenian ostracism vote to be valid?