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64-565: The term designates since antiquity the inland portion of the Attic peninsula. The term acquired a technical meaning with the reforms of Cleisthenes in c.  508 BC , when each of the ten Attic tribes was in territory composed of three zones ( trittyes ), urban ( asty , the main city of Athens), interior ( mesogeia ) and coastal ( paralia ). In the Classical period , the mesogeia comprised about 47 settlements ( demoi ). In modern usage,

128-613: A deme . This and the other aforementioned reforms had an additional effect in that they worked to include (wealthy, male) foreign citizens in Athenian society. He also established sortition – the random selection of citizens to fill government positions rather than kinship or heredity. It is also speculated that, in another move to lower the barriers of kinship and heredity when it comes to participation in Athenian society, Cleisthenes made it so foreign residents of Athens were eligible to become legally privileged. In addition, he reorganized

192-469: A battle the week before such a second vote. It opened a period for discussion (or perhaps agitation), whether informally in daily talk or public speeches before the Athenian assembly or Athenian courts. In this process a consensus, or rival consensuses, might emerge. Because ostracism was carried out by thousands of people over many decades of an evolving political situation and culture, it did not serve one monolithic purpose. Observations can be made about

256-552: A kind of scrap paper (in contrast to papyrus , which was imported from Egypt as a high-quality writing surface, and too costly to be disposable). Each year the Athenians were asked in the assembly whether they wished to hold an ostracism. The question was put in the sixth of the ten months used for state business under the democracy (January or February in the modern Gregorian Calendar ). The process of ostracism could be divided into five elements according to Philochorus : 1) It

320-432: A second chance and society would be spared feuds, civil war, political tensions and/or murder. The last ostracism, that of Hyperbolos in or near 417 BC, is narrated by Plutarch in three separate lives : Hyperbolos is pictured urging the people to expel one of his rivals, but they, Nicias and Alcibiades , laying aside their hostility for a moment, use their influence to have him ostracised instead. According to Plutarch,

384-434: A second undated ostracism not listed above. The known ostracisms seem to fall into three distinct phases: the 480s BC, mid-century 461–443 BC and finally the years 417–415: this roughly correlates with the clustering of known expulsions, although Themistocles before 471 may count as an exception. This may suggest that ostracism fell in and out of fashion. The last known ostracism was that of Hyperbolus in circa 417 BC. There

448-401: A tyranny has with the democratic concept of having the people (instead of a single person) at the peak of political power. Another by-product of the deme system was that it split up and weakened his political adversaries. Cleisthenes also abolished patronymics in favour of demonymics (a name given according to the deme to which one belongs), thus increasing Athenians' sense of belonging to

512-513: A year for this purpose. The bills proposed could be rejected, passed, or returned for amendments by the assembly. Cleisthenes also may have introduced ostracism (first used in 487 BC), whereby a vote by at least 6,000 citizens would exile a citizen for ten years. The initial and intended purpose was to vote for a citizen deemed to be a threat to the democracy, most likely anyone who seemed to have ambitions to set himself up as tyrant. However, soon after, any citizen judged to have too much power in

576-448: A year, and only for one person. It resembles the Greek pharmakos or scapegoat —though in contrast, pharmakos generally ejected a lowly member of the community. A further distinction between these two modes (and not obvious from a modern perspective) is that ostracism was an automatic procedure that required no initiative from any individual, with the vote simply occurring on the wish of

640-487: Is Spata, and its main harbour is Rafina. The Athens International Airport is also located near Spata. This article about a location in Ancient Attica is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Cleisthenes Cleisthenes ( / ˈ k l aɪ s θ ɪ n iː z / KLYS -thin-eez ; Ancient Greek : Κλεισθένης ), or Clisthenes ( c.  570  – c.  508 BC ),

704-438: Is a common retaliatory strategy used by organizations in response to whistleblowing . Kipling Williams, in a survey on US whistleblowers, found that all respondents reported post-whistleblowing ostracism. Alexander Brown similarly found that post-whistleblowing ostracism is a common response, and indeed describes ostracism as form of " covert " reprisal, as it is normally so difficult to identify and investigate. Qahr and ashti

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768-466: Is a culture-specific Iranian form of personal shunning, most frequently of another family member in Iran . While modern Western concepts of ostracism are based upon enforcing conformity within a societally-recognized group, qahr is a private (batini), family-orientated affair of conflict or display of anger that is never disclosed to the public at large, as to do so would be a breach of social etiquette. Qahr

832-525: Is another interpretation, however, according to which these ostraka were prepared beforehand by enterprising businessmen who offered them for sale to citizens who could not easily inscribe the desired names for themselves or who simply wished to save time. The two-month gap is a key feature in the institution, much as in elections under modern liberal democracies . It prevented the candidate for expulsion being chosen out of immediate anger, although an Athenian general such as Cimon would have not wanted to lose

896-472: Is increased group-conformity , in a quest for re-admittance; the second is to become more provocative and hostile to the group, seeking attention rather than acceptance. Older adults report experiencing ostracism less frequently, with a particular dip being around the age of retirement . Regardless of age, ostracism is strongly associated with negative emotions, reduced life satisfaction and dysfunctional social behaviour. Research suggests that ostracism

960-507: Is no sign of its use after the Peloponnesian War , when democracy was restored after the oligarchic coup of the Thirty had collapsed in 403 BC. However, while ostracism was not an active feature of the fourth-century version of democracy, it remained; the question was put to the assembly each year, but they did not wish to hold one. Ostracism was crucially different from Athenian law at

1024-591: Is seen to be threatening to the fundamental human needs of belonging , self-esteem , control and meaningful existence. Cyber- rejection (receiving "dislikes") caused more threat to the need of belonging and self-esteem, and lead to social withdrawal . Cyber-ostracism (being ignored or receiving fewer "likes") conversely lead to more prosocial behavior . Ostracism is thought to be associated with social media disorder . Williams and his colleagues have charted responses to ostracism in some five thousand cases, and found two distinctive patterns of response. The first

1088-426: Is thought that there may have been 139 demes (though this is still a matter of debate), each organized into three groups called trittyes ("thirds"), with ten demes divided among three regions in each trittyes (a city region, asty ; a coastal region, paralia ; and an inland region, mesogeia ). D.M Lewis argues that Cleisthenes established the deme system in order to balance the central unifying force that

1152-450: Is unknown as no ancient texts mention him thereafter. In 507 BC, during the time Cleisthenes was leading Athenian politics, and probably at his instigation, democratic Athens sent an embassy to Artaphernes , brother of Darius I , and Achaemenid Satrap , of Asia Minor in the capital of Sardis , looking for Persian assistance in order to resist the threats from Sparta . Herodotus reports that Artaphernes had no previous knowledge of

1216-598: The Boule , created with 400 members under Solon , so that it had 500 members, 50 from each tribe. He also introduced the bouleutic oath, "To advise according to the laws what was best for the people". The court system ( Dikasteria – law courts) was reorganized and had from 201–5001 jurors selected each day, up to 500 from each tribe. It was the role of the Boule to propose laws to the assembly of voters, who convened in Athens around forty times

1280-567: The Lacedaemonians and Cleomenes to war. When the envoys came to Sardis and spoke as they had been bidden, Artaphrenes son of Hystaspes , viceroy of Sardis, asked them, "What men are you, and where dwell you, who desire alliance with the Persians?" Being informed by the envoys, he gave them an answer whereof the substance was, that if the Athenians gave king Darius earth and water , then he would make alliance with them; but if not, his command

1344-510: The council of the five hundred supervised the process while the Archontes counted the ostraka submitted and sorted the names into separate piles. The person whose pile contained the most ostraka would be banished, provided that a quorum was met. According to Plutarch , the ostracism was considered valid if the total number of votes cast was at least 6,000; according to a fragment of Philochorus , at least 6,000 votes had to be cast against

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1408-590: The tyrant son of Pisistratus . After the collapse of Hippias' tyranny, Isagoras and Cleisthenes were rivals for power, but Isagoras won the upper hand by appealing to the Spartan king Cleomenes I to help him expel Cleisthenes. He did so on the pretext of the Alcmaeonid curse . Consequently, Cleisthenes left Athens as an exile, and Isagoras was unrivalled in power within the city. Isagoras set about dispossessing hundreds of Athenians of their homes and exiling them on

1472-468: The Athenians preferred to remain democratic despite the danger from the Achaemenid Empire, and the ambassadors were disavowed and censured upon their return to Athens. After that, the Athenians sent to bring back Cleisthenes and the seven hundred households banished by Cleomenes; then they despatched envoys to Sardis, desiring to make an alliance with the Persians; for they knew that they had provoked

1536-527: The Athenians, and his initial reaction was "Who are these people?" Artaphernes asked the Athenians for "Water and Earth", a symbol of submission, if they wanted help from the Achaemenid king. The Athenian ambassadors apparently accepted to comply, and to give " Earth and Water ". Artaphernes also advised the Athenians that they should receive back the Athenian tyrant Hippias . The Persians threatened to attack Athens if they did not accept Hippias. Nevertheless,

1600-536: The Athenians, such as their intervention in the Ionian revolt , were perceived as a breach of oath and a rebellion against the central authority of the Achaemenid ruler. Ostracism Ostracism ( Greek : ὀστρακισμός , ostrakismos ) was an Athenian democratic procedure in which any citizen could be expelled from the city-state of Athens for ten years. While some instances clearly expressed popular anger at

1664-502: The Latin name defixiones , where small dolls were wrapped in lead sheets written with curses and then buried, sometimes stuck through with nails for good measure. In one anecdote about Aristides, known as "the Just", who was ostracised in 482, an illiterate citizen, not recognising him, asked him to write the name Aristides on his ostrakon. When Aristides asked why, the man replied it was because he

1728-414: The Persians. Nearly twenty years later Hippias landed with an invasion force at Marathon. Tyranny and Persian aggression were paired threats facing the new democratic regime at Athens, and ostracism was used against both. Tyranny and democracy had arisen at Athens out of clashes between regional and factional groups organized around politicians, including Cleisthenes. As a reaction, in many of its features

1792-483: The aristocratic council and made it accessible for participation from various groups of people. Historians estimate that Cleisthenes was born around 570 BC. Cleisthenes was the uncle of Pericles ' mother, Agariste, and of Alcibiades ' maternal grandfather, Megacles. Cleisthenes came from the family of the Alcmaeonidae . He was the son of Agariste and grandson of Cleisthenes of Sicyon . Unlike his grandfather who

1856-515: The citizen, ostracism was often used preemptively. It was used as a way of neutralizing someone thought to be a threat to the state or a potential tyrant , though in many cases popular opinion often informed the expulsion. The word " ostracism " continues to be used for various forms of shunning . The term "ostracism" is derived from the pottery shards that were used as voting tokens, called ostraka (singular: ostrakon ὄστρακον ) in Greek. Broken pottery, abundant and virtually free, served as

1920-510: The city tended to be targeted for exile (e.g., Xanthippus in 485–84 BC). Under this system, the exiled man's property was maintained, but he was not physically in the city where he could possibly create a new tyranny. One later ancient author records that Cleisthenes himself was the first person to be ostracized. Cleisthenes called these reforms isonomia ("equality vis à vis law", iso- meaning equality; nomos meaning law), instead of demokratia . Cleisthenes' life after his reforms

1984-426: The conclusion that a similar institution existed there as well, in spite of the silence of the ancient records on that count. A similar modern practice is the recall election , in which the electoral body removes its representation from an elected officer. Unlike under modern voting procedures, the Athenians did not have to adhere to a strict format for the inscribing of ostraka . Many extant ostraka show that it

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2048-537: The democracy strove to reduce the role of factions as the focus of citizen loyalties. Ostracism may have been intended to work in the same to similar ends: by temporarily decapitating a faction, it could help defuse confrontations that threatened the order of the State. In later decades when the threat of tyranny was remote, ostracism seems to have been used to decide between radically opposed policies. For instance, in 443 BC Thucydides, son of Melesias (not to be confused with

2112-489: The electorate—a diffuse exercise of power. By contrast, an Athenian trial needed the initiative of a particular citizen-prosecutor. While prosecution often led to a counterattack (or was a counterattack itself), no such response was possible in the case of ostracism as responsibility lay with the polity as a whole. In contrast to a trial, ostracism generally reduced political tension rather than increased it. Although ten years of exile may have been challenging for Athenians, it

2176-477: The historian of the same name ) was ostracized. He led an aristocratic opposition to Athenian imperialism and in particular to Pericles ' building program on the acropolis, which was funded by taxes created for the wars against the Achaemenid Empire . By expelling Thucydides the Athenian people sent a clear message about the direction of Athenian policy. Similar but controversial claims have been made about

2240-439: The late Middle Ages , the area was the site of Albanian ( Arvanite ) settlement, as can be seen from toponyms such as Spata or Liopesi . Before the 2011 Kallikratis reform , the area comprised the municipalities of Gerakas , Glyka Nera , Anthousa , Pallini , Paiania , Pikermi , Spata, Artemida , Rafina, Markopoulo Mesogaias , Keratea , Koropi , Kalyvia Thorikou , Vari , Kouvaras , and Voula . Its main settlement

2304-483: The most common form of ostracism is silent treatment , wherein refusing to communicate with a person effectively ignores and excludes them. Ostracism in the context of computer networks (such as the Internet ) is termed "cyberostracism". In email communication, in particular, it is relatively easy to engage in silent treatment, in the form of "unanswered emails" or "ignored emails". Being ostracised on social media

2368-431: The name of those they wished to be ostracized to a scribe, as many of them were illiterate, and they then scratched the name on pottery shards. The shards were piled up facing down, so the votes would remain anonymous. Ostracism served as a political tool to eliminate rivals. It also helped to reflect the Athenians' belief in the importance of civic engagement and the power of collective decision making. Nine Archontes and

2432-448: The ostracism of Cimon in 461 BC. The motives of individual voting citizens cannot be known. Many of the surviving ostraka name people otherwise unattested. They may well be just someone the submitter disliked, and voted for in a moment of private spite. Some ostraka bear the word "Limos" (hunger) instead of a human name. As such, it may be seen as a secular, civic variant of Athenian curse tablets , studied in scholarly literature under

2496-407: The outcomes, as well as the initial purpose for which it was created. The first instance of people ostracized in the decade after the defeat of the first Persian invasion at Marathon in 490 BC were related or connected to the tyrant Peisistratos , who had controlled Athens for 36 years up to 527 BC. After his son Hippias was deposed with Spartan help in 510 BC, the family sought refuge with

2560-427: The people of Athens endowed their city with isonomic institutions—equal rights for all citizens (though only free men were citizens) —and established ostracism as a punishment. Cleisthenes reforms set up the Athenian population into a total of ten different tribes that were based off of local demes or districts. Because of this there was a more equal representation within the political system. Cleisthenes had replaced

2624-671: The people of Athens. This led Cleisthenes to ask the Oracle of Delphi to persuade the Spartans to help him free Athens from tyranny. Cleisthenes' plea for assistance was accepted by the Oracle as his family had previously helped rebuild the sanctuary when it was destroyed by fire. With help from the Spartans and the Alcmaeonidae (Cleisthenes' genos , "clan"), he was responsible for overthrowing Hippias ,

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2688-506: The people then become disgusted with ostracism and abandoned the procedure forever. In part ostracism lapsed as a procedure at the end of the fifth century because it was replaced by the graphe paranomon , a regular court action under which a much larger number of politicians might be targeted, instead of just one a year as with ostracism, and with greater severity. It may already seemed like an anachronism as factional alliances organised around important men became less significant and power

2752-415: The person who was to be banished. Plutarch's evidence for a quorum of 6,000 agrees with the number required for grants of citizenship in the following century and is generally preferred. The person newly ostracized had ten days to leave the city. If he attempted to return, the penalty was death . The property of the man banished was not confiscated and there was no loss of status. After ten years, he

2816-457: The practice was not expelled until 487 BC—nearly 20 years later. Over the course of the next 60 years some 12 or more individuals followed him. The list may not be complete. The list of known ostracisms is as follows: Around 12,000 political ostraka have been excavated in the Athenian agora and in the Kerameikos . The second victim, Cleisthenes' nephew Megacles, is named by 4647 of these, but for

2880-487: The pretext that they too were cursed. He also attempted to dissolve the Boule (βουλή), a council of Athenian citizens appointed to run the daily affairs of the city. However, the council resisted, and the Athenian people declared their support of the council. Isagoras and his partisans were forced to flee to the Acropolis , remaining besieged there for two days. On the third day they fled the city and were banished. Cleisthenes

2944-571: The term refers to the central portion of East Attica , separated from the Athens basin by Mount Hymettus , and delineated to the north by Mount Penteli and to the south by the mountains of south Attica (Merenta, Panio  [ el ] , Laureotic Olympus ). To the east the Mesogeia reaches the Aegean Sea at the Petalioi Gulf , but is separated from the actual coastline by a line of low hills. In

3008-426: The time; there was no charge and no defense could be mounted by the person expelled. The two stages of the procedure ran in the reverse order from that used under almost any trial system—it is as if a jury were first asked "Do you want to find someone guilty?" , and subsequently asked "Whom do you wish to accuse?" . The judicial framework is perhaps the institution's most peculiar feature: it can take place at most once

3072-403: The traditional clans, which had led to the tyranny in the first place, he changed the political organization from the four traditional tribes, which were based on family relations, and which formed the basis of the upper-class Athenian political power network, into ten tribes according to their area of residence (their deme ), which would form the basis of a new democratic power structure. It

3136-463: The wider Greek world and who, unlike genuine exiles, were able to access their income in Attica from abroad. In Plutarch , following the anti-democratic thought common in elite sources, people might be recalled early, thus being an example of the inconsistency of majoritarianism characteristic of Athenian democracy. However, ten years of exile usually resolved whatever had prompted the expulsion. Ostracism

3200-452: Was a lenient punishment compared to the sentences that courts could impose. When dealing with politicians held to be acting against the interests of the people, Athenian juries could inflict severe penalties such as death, unpayably large fines, confiscation of property, permanent exile, or loss of citizens' rights through atimia . Further, the elite Athenians who suffered ostracism were rich or noble men who had connections or xenoi in

3264-477: Was a pragmatic measure; the concept of serving out the full sentence did not apply as it was a preventive measure, not a punitive one. An example of the practicalities of ostracism comes from the cache of 190 ostraka discovered dumped in a well next to the acropolis . From the handwriting, they appear to have been written by fourteen individuals and bear the name of Themistocles , ostracised before 471 BC, and were evidently meant for distribution to voters. This

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3328-458: Was a two-stage process, 2) it was open to all Athens citizens , 3) it was overseen by outside officials, 4) must meet a specific quorum, 5) regulated penalties. The majority of citizen must come to a unified agreement to start the procedures of Ostracism. If they voted "yes", then an ostracism would be held two months later. In a section of the agora set off and suitably barriered that was called perischoinisma (περισχοίνισμα), citizens gave

3392-487: Was a tyrant, he adopted politically democratic concepts. When Pisistratus took power in Athens as a tyrant, he exiled his political opponents and the Alcmaeonidae . After Pisistratus' death in 527 BC, Cleisthenes returned to Athens and became the eponymous archon . A few years later, Pisistratus' successors, Hipparchus and Hippias , again exiled Cleisthenes. In 514 BC, Harmodius and Aristogeiton assassinated Hipparchus, causing Hippias to further harden his attitude towards

3456-454: Was allowed to return without stigma. It was possible for the assembly to recall an ostracized person ahead of time; before the Persian invasion of 479 BC, an amnesty was declared under which at least two ostracised leaders— Pericles ' father, Xanthippus , and Aristides 'the Just'—are known to have returned. Similarly, Cimon , ostracised in 461 BC, was recalled during an emergency. Ostracism

3520-567: Was also credited with increasing the power of the Athenian citizens' assembly and for reducing the power of the nobility over Athenian politics. In 510 BC, Spartan troops helped the Athenians overthrow the tyrant Hippias , son of Peisistratus . Cleomenes I , king of Sparta, put in place a pro-Spartan oligarchy headed by Isagoras . However, Cleisthenes, with the support of the middle class and aided by democrats, took over. Cleomenes intervened in 508 and 506 BC, but could not stop Cleisthenes and his Athenian supporters. Through Cleisthenes' reforms,

3584-421: Was an ancient Athenian lawgiver credited with reforming the constitution of ancient Athens and setting it on a democratic footing in 508 BC . For these accomplishments, historians refer to him as "the father of Athenian democracy". He was a member of the aristocratic Alcmaeonid clan. He was the younger son of Megacles and Agariste making him the maternal grandson of the tyrant Cleisthenes of Sicyon . He

3648-494: Was more specifically located in the interaction of the individual speaker with the power of the assembly and the courts. The threat to the democratic system in the late fifth century came not from tyranny but from oligarchic coups, threats of which became prominent after two brief seizures of power, in 411 BC by "the Four Hundred" and in 404 BC by "the Thirty" , which were not dependent on single powerful individuals. Ostracism

3712-554: Was not an effective defence against the oligarchic threat and it was not so used. Other cities are known to have set up forms of ostracism on the Athenian model, namely Megara , Miletos , Argos and Syracuse, Sicily . In the last of these it was referred to as petalismos , because the names were written on olive leaves. Little is known about these institutions. Furthermore, pottery shards identified as ostraka have been found in Chersonesos Taurica , leading historians to

3776-452: Was not in use throughout the entire period of Athenian democracy (circa 506–322 BC), but only occurred in the fifth century BC. The standard account, found in Aristotle 's Constitution of the Athenians 22.3, attributes the establishment to Cleisthenes , a pivotal reformer in the creation of the democracy. In that case, ostracism would have been in place from around 506 BC. The first victim of

3840-406: Was not necessarily evidence of electoral fraud (being no worse than modern voting instruction cards), but their being dumped in the well may suggest that their creators wished to hide them. If so, these ostraka provide an example of organized groups attempting to influence the outcome of ostracisms. The two-month gap between the first and second phases would have allowed for such a campaign. There

3904-501: Was possible to write expletives, short epigrams or cryptic injunctions beside the name of the candidate without invalidating the vote. For example: Ostracism is evident in several animal species, as well as in modern human interactions. The social psychologist Kipling Williams defines ostracism as "any act or acts of ignoring and excluding of an individual or groups by an individual or a group" without necessarily involving "acts of verbal or physical abuse". Williams suggests that

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3968-690: Was sick of hearing him being called "the Just". Perhaps merely the sense that someone had become too arrogant or prominent was enough to get someone's name onto an ostrakon. Ostracism rituals could have also been an attempt to dissuade people from covertly committing murder or assassination of intolerable or emerging individuals of power so as to create an open arena or outlet for those harbouring primal frustrations and urges or political motivations. The solution for murder, in Gregory H. Padowitz's theory, would then be "ostracism" which would ultimately be beneficial for all parties—the ostracised individual would live and get

4032-421: Was subsequently recalled, along with hundreds of exiles, and he assumed leadership of Athens. Promptly after his instatement as leader, he commissioned a bronze memorial from the sculptor Antenor in honour of the lovers and tyrannicides Harmodius and Aristogeiton , whom Hippias had executed. After this victory, Cleisthenes began to reform the government of Athens. In order to forestall strife between

4096-417: Was that they should begone. The envoys consulted together and consented to give what was asked, in their desire to make the alliance. So they returned to their own country, and were then greatly blamed for what they had done. There is a possibility that the Achaemenid ruler now saw the Athenians as subjects who had solemnly promised submission through the gift of "Earth and Water", and that subsequent actions by

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