Editing Ostracism (section)

==Procedure==
The term "ostracism" is derived from the [[sherd|pottery shard]]s that were used as voting tokens, called ''[[ostracon|ostraka]]'' (singular: ''ostrakon'' {{Lang|grc|ὄστρακον}}) in Greek.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last1=Burckhardt |first1=Leonhard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_vb9vqionPwC |title=Grosse Prozesse im antiken Athen |last2=Burckhardt |first2=Leonhard Alexander |last3=Ungern-Sternberg |first3=Jürgen von |date=2000 |publisher=[[C.H. Beck]] |isbn=3-406-46613-3 |pages=68–77 |language=de}}</ref> Broken pottery, abundant and virtually free, served as a kind of scrap paper (in contrast to [[papyrus]], which was imported from [[Ancient Egypt|Egypt]] as a high-quality writing surface, and too costly to be disposable).<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Price of Papyrus in Greek Antiquity, Gustave Glotz 1929 |url=https://www.marxists.org/history/france/annales/1929/price-papyrus.htm |access-date=21 March 2023 |website=www.marxists.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Skeat |first=T.C. |date=1995 |title=Was papyrus regarded as « cheap » or « expensive » in the ancient world? |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41216910 |journal=Aegyptus |volume=75 |issue=1/2 |pages=75–93 |jstor=41216910 |issn=0001-9046}}</ref>

Each year the Athenians were asked in the [[ecclesia (ancient Athens)|assembly]] whether they wished to hold an ostracism. The question was put in the sixth of the [[Attic calendar#State calendar|ten months used for state business under the democracy]] (January or February in the modern [[Gregorian calendar]]).<ref name="Forsdyke 2005">{{Cite book|last=Forsdyke|first=Sara|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/355696355|title=Exile, ostracism, and democracy : the politics of expulsion in ancient Greece|date=2005|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-1-4008-2686-5|location=Princeton, N.J.|oclc=355696355}}</ref> The process of ostracism could be divided into five elements according to [[Philochorus]]: 1) It was a two-stage process, 2) it was open to all Athens citizens,<ref name="Forsdyke 2005" /> 3) it was overseen by outside officials, 4) must meet a specific quorum, 5) regulated penalties.<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal |last=Salamanca |first=Emily |date=31 August 2023 |title=Pruning of the People: Ostracism and the Transformation of the Political Space in Ancient Athens |journal=Philosophies |language=en |volume=8 |issue=5 |pages=81 |doi=10.3390/philosophies8050081 |doi-access=free |issn=2409-9287}}</ref>

The majority of citizen must come to a unified agreement to start the procedures of Ostracism.<ref name=":4" /> If they voted "yes", then an ostracism would be held two months later. In a section of the [[agora]] set off and suitably barriered<ref>According to some sources, part of the [[agora]] was roped-off, according to others it was temporarily immured with wooden planks.</ref> that was called [[perischoinisma]] (περισχοίνισμα),<ref> https://agora.ascsa.net/file?id=Agora%3AReport%3A2012%20Excavations&field=PDF&path=%2FAgora%2FPDFs%2FReports%2F2012%20Excavations.pdf</ref><ref> In Pollux, VIII. 20 (ed. Bethe, Leipzig, 1900–37) in the section on σκεύη δικαστικά—κιγκλίς, δρύφακτος κτλ.—we read περισχοινίσαντας (περισκηνήσαντας A) δέ τι τῆς ἀγορᾶς μέρος ἔδει φέρειν εἰς τὸν περιορισθέντα τόπον Ἀθηναίων τὸν βουλόμενον ὄστρακον ἐγγεγραμμένον τοὔνομα τοῦ μέλλοντος ἐξοστρακίƷεσθαι.[https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-hellenic-studies/article/abs/two-notes-on-athenian-topography/ABC18C0A9731A1EA63AA96A0E97EF0D2]</ref><ref> Perischoinisma : The roping off of an area outside a structure being used as a court. [https://www.ascsa.edu.gr/uploads/media/oa_ebooks/oa_agora/Agora_XXVIII.pdf] [https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2972/hesperia.84.3.0467] [http://project.athens-agora.gr/index.php?view=page&sid=12&lang_id=en] </ref> citizens gave 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.<ref name=":2" /> 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.<ref>Plutarch, ''The Life of Aristides'', and ''The Life of Cimon''</ref> Nine ''Archontes'' and the [[Boule (ancient Greece)|council of the five hundred]] supervised the process<ref name=":2" /> while the ''Archontes'' counted the ''ostraka'' submitted and sorted the names into separate piles.<ref name=":3">Burckhardt, Leonhard; Burckhardt, Leonhard Alexander; Ungern-Sternberg, Jürgen von (2000), p.69</ref> 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;<ref>{{Cite web|title=Plutarch, Aristides, chapter 7|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:abo:tlg,0007,024:7|access-date=21 May 2021|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> according to a fragment of [[Philochorus]], at least 6,000 votes had to be cast against the person who was to be banished.<ref>[http://www.attalus.org/translate/philochorus.html] See n. 30</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|title=Philochorus|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e920850|access-date=21 May 2021|journal=Brill's New Pauly|date=October 2006|doi=10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e920850|last1=Meister|first1=Klaus (Berlin)}}</ref>  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.<ref>{{cite book |title=Democracy and Participation in Athens |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |author=Sinclair, R. K. |isbn=0-521-42389-9 |year=1988 |pages=114–19}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Greek and Roman Voting and Elections |author=Staveley, E. S. |publisher=[[Thames and Hudson]] |year=1972 |pages=89ff}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The Classical Athenian Democracy |author=Stockton, David |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=0-19-814697-3 |year=1990 |pages=33ff}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Mass and Elite in Democratic Athens |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |author=Ober, Josiah |isbn=0-691-02864-8 |year=1988 |page=74}}</ref>

The person newly ostracized had ten days to leave the city.<ref name=":3" /> If he attempted to return, the penalty was [[capital punishment|death]]. The property of the man banished was not confiscated and there was no loss of status. After ten years, he was allowed to return without stigma.<ref name=":4" /><ref name="Forsdyke 2005" /> It was possible for the assembly to recall an ostracized person ahead of time; before the [[Persian Wars|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.<ref name="lifesimon17_2_6">[[Plutarch]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0182:text=Cim.:chapter=17 ''Life of Cimon'' 17.2–6].</ref>