In the Athenian Constitution, 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. Aelian, Hist. Var. XIII, 24, Philochoros Fr. 30, and Ephoros, in Diodoros XI, 55, agree, according to Donald Kagan. Other people associated with the start of ostracism are the Greek hero and Athenian king Theseus and the tyrant Hippias. Hipparchus is said to have been the first man ostracized.
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.
Likely Victims of Ostracism: 507 ? Cleisthenes? (Archon 525/4), 487 Hipparchos, 486 Megacles, 485 Callias, 484 Xanthippos (Archon 479/8), 483 Callixenos, 482 Aristides the Just (Archon 489/8), 471 ? Themistocles (Archon 493/2), 461 Cimon, 460 ? "Alcibiades the Elder," 443 Thucydides, and 417 Hyperbolos.
References:
- Ostracism at Athens (John Paul Adams at California State University).
- "The Origin and Purposes of Ostracism," by Donald Kagan; Hesperia Vol. 30, No. 4 (Oct. - Dec., 1961), pp. 393-401.
