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Welcome back to Archaeology And Travel With Zorica!
Today I will cover one of the most important aspects of democracy in Ancient Athens: the
ostracism.
Stay tuned if you like learning interesting things!
Ostracism is a practice instituted in th3 6th century BC in Athens, which was in use
till the last quarter of the 5th century BC.
I would note here that the practice of ostracism is attested in other Greek poleis like: Argos,
Miletus, Syracuse and Megara.
Before I start dealing with the mechanism of ostracism, let's see the historic background
that shaped Athenian society to start using it.
The most important process for Athenian society was synoikia.
Synoikia was the process of political unification of entire Attica.
It took them 200-300 years to accomplish the unification process.
In the 9th or 8th century BC Paralia joined the union.
Paralia is a coastal part of Attica.
The next was Diacria, a mountain region on the north Attica.
The strongest resistance was provided by inhabitants of Eleusis, on the southwestern part Attica.
Eleusis was autonomous even during the 7th century BC.
The most important source of information for the period I am talking about is so called
Constitution of the Athenians, written by Aristotle.
You can find some info about it at Herodotus, Thucydides, Diodorus Siculus and Plutarch.
After unification process was completed Attica was faced with many challenges.
One of the characteristics of Athens in the 7th century BC was an agricultural society
with minimal share of crafts.
The aristocracy consisted of eupatrids which were using any opportunity to enslave the
rest of the society.
The second class of the Athenian society were geomori, a peasants located in the barely
fertile Diacria.
The third class of the Athenian society consisted of demiurgi, the craftsmen.
It is believed that the division of the Athenian society was made by mythical king Theseus.
Apart from demos, there was a class of meticos, free immigrants without political and property
rights in Ancient Athens because they were not members of Athenian tribes.
Only members of Athenian tribes were allowed to participate in politics and to have land
in Attica.
Even though we have legends that mention the names of Athenian kings, we don't have any
proves that they actually existed.
The last of Athenian kings, Codros, died to save Athens during the Dorian invasion in
1068 BC.
It was believed that no other man was good enough to succeed him as a king of Athens.
Aristotle, on other hand, says that his (Codros's) son Medon succeed Codros as the Athenian king.
After abolition of kingship in Ancient Athens, political rule passed into the hands of 9
archons.
Archons were members of eupatrids and the oldest of archons gave the name to the current
year.
Very important part in the Ancient Athenian society had areopagus.
We have to bear in mind that areopagus was another mechanism of aristocratic rule because
the members of areopagus were old archons.
After the national assembly lost it's power, the demos lost it's instrument to fight
for rights.
That is why we see 7th and 6th century BC as a battle fields between demos and aristocracy.
It culminated with fight against tyrants and establishing the democratic rule in Ancient
Athens.
Cleisthenes reform from 509 BC mark the end of clan based society in Athens and rising
of citizen assembly.
The division of Attica into 10 territorial units broke the clan ties, leaving the
aristocracy without the influence.
In an attempt to diminish the influence of followers of tyranny, he created many important
institutions: like council of 500, collegium of 10 apodecants, which were nothing but magistrants
of finances, 10 strategos and supreme court heliaia.
Osracism represents a kind of banishment from the Ancient Athenian society.
As a part of his reform, Cleisthenes divided year into 10 pritany (periods).
Each pritany (period) lasted 35 or 36 days.
After the 6th pritany, which corresponds to the beginning of our year, they asked the
question:"Should we undertake the ostracism?".
If the answer was positive the vote took place during the 8th pritany.
It took minimum of 6000 votes to declare ostracism regular.
The candidate with most votes on ostracons was banished from Attica for 10 years.
He had 10 days to leave Attica.
I must note here that ostracism as a banishment did not included loosing political nor property
rights.
Ostracons were pottery shreds, mainly bottom of the vessel used for incising the name of
candidate for ostracism.
Now we have to bear in mind that not all the voters were literate and they needed a little
help of those who can write.
The question is:"Did they took the advantage of it?".
Between 509 and 416 BC ostracism took place between 10 and 15 times.
How do we know about it?
Well, during the archaeological excavations in Cerameicos and proximity of Acropolis,
archaeologist have discovered tens of thousands ostracons inscribed with names of candidates.
Archaeological excavation in proximity of Acropolis revealed 190 ostracons incised with
Themistocles name.
The truth is that those ostracons were hidden and during the handwriting analysis it was
concluded that 14 persons incised all 190 ostracons.
Some scholars believe that it is a proof of vote fraud.
The first ostracism took place in 487 BC and that was Hipparchos, son of Charmos.
He was ostracized due to his family ties to tyrant Peisistratos.
We even have an account that one person was ostracized twice.
That was Megacle, son of Hippocrates.
Even the members of Cleisthenes family were ostracized.
The funny thing about banishment of Hyperbolos was the fact that he tried to expel one of
his opponents, Nicias or Alcibiades.
What happened next was absolutely epic!
Nicias and Alcibiades joined forces and managed to expel Hyperbolos.
The account of this is found at Plutarch.
He states that people were tired of this practice and abandoned ostracism for ever.
The truth is that ostracism was not something new in the Ancient Athens.
A similar practice of exile existed before but it included loosing rights and property.
That way a political power shifted greatly and destabilized Ancient Athenian society
allowing tyranny to happen.
Ostracism prevented a sudden change in political forces, stabilizing society and preparing Ancient
Athens for what comes next.
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Also, if you have any suggestions about the subject of future videos, please comment down
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