Definition: Aristotle claims Cleisthenes was responsible for the institution of ostracism which allowed the citizens to get rid of a fellow citizen whom they feared was getting too powerful, temporarily. The word ostracism comes from ostraka, the word for the potsherds on which the citizens wrote the name of their candidates for the ten-year exile.
Ostracism
From N.S. Gill's Ancient/Classical History Glossary, for About.com
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