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95-667: The First Peloponnesian War began in 460 BC with the Battle of Oenoe, where Spartan forces were defeated by those of Athenian-Argive alliance. At first the Athenians had the better of the fighting, winning the naval engagements using their superior fleet. They also had the better of the fighting on land, until 457 BC when the Spartans and their allies defeated the Athenian army at Tanagra . The Athenians, however, counterattacked and scored

190-464: A Libyan king who had led almost all of Egypt in revolt from the Persian king Artaxerxes . Athens and her allies sent a fleet of 200 ships to assist Inarus; a substantial investment of resources. Thus, Athens entered the war with her forces spread across several theatres of conflict. The impact this had on the Athenians can be seen in an inscription dating to 460 or 459 BC which lists the dead of

285-469: 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

380-749: A crushing victory over the Boeotians at the Battle of Oenophyta and followed this victory up by conquering all of Boeotia except for Thebes. Athens further consolidated their position by making Aegina a member of the Delian League and by ravaging the Peloponnese. The Athenians were defeated in 454 BC by the Persians in Egypt which caused them to enter into a five years' truce with Sparta. However,

475-419: A farm, where they were trapped and massacred. For several years at the beginning of the war, Sparta remained largely inert. Spartan troops may have been involved in some of the early battles of the war, but if so, they were not specifically mentioned in any sources. In 458 BC or 457 BC, Sparta at last made a move, but not directly at Athens. A war had broken out between Athens' ally Phocis and Doris , across

570-408: 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 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

665-555: A more dangerous disturbance, in which Euboea and Megara revolted. Pericles crossed over to Euboea with his troops to quash the rebellion there, but was forced to return when the Spartan army invaded Attica . Through negotiation and possibly bribery, Pericles persuaded the Spartan king Pleistoanax to lead his army home. Back in Sparta, Pleistoanax would later be prosecuted for failing to press his advantage, and fined so heavily that he

760-432: 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,

855-461: A significant number of ships were probably kept at Megara's port of Pagae throughout the war. Moreover, while early modern scholars were sceptical of Athens' ability to prevent a Spartan army from moving through the Megarid, recent scholarship has concluded that the pass of Geraneia could have been held by a relatively small force. Thus, with the isthmus of Corinth closed and Athenian fleets in both

950-721: A strength of 14,000. The Spartans were led by Nicomedes and had a total of 11,500 soldiers. While both the Athenians and Spartans suffered great losses, Sparta ultimately claimed victory in this battle. Prior to the breakout of this battle, in the Persian Wars , the Spartan-led Peloponnesian League won a hegemony . As time progressed the Peloponnesian League grew to fear the power of the Athenian Empire. Relations between

1045-511: A sudden halt in 454 BC, when its Egyptian expedition was finally crushingly defeated. A massive Persian army under Megabazus had been sent overland against the rebels in Egypt some time earlier, and upon its arrival had quickly routed the rebel forces. The Greek contingent had been besieged on the island of Prosopitis in the Nile . In 454 BC, after a siege of 18 months, the Persians captured

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1140-617: A truce with Sparta. Cimon arranged a five-year truce, and over the next several years Athens concentrated its efforts in the Aegean. The years after the truce were eventful ones in Greek politics. The Peace of Callias , if it existed, was concluded in 449 BC. It was probably in that same year that Pericles passed the Congress decree, calling for a pan-Hellenic congress to discuss the future of Greece. Modern scholars have debated extensively over

1235-442: 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 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

1330-438: 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

1425-470: 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

1520-525: 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

1615-461: 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 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

1710-474: 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 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

1805-451: 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 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

1900-472: 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

1995-591: 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

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2090-425: Is the phrase εν τῳ πολεμῳ 'in the war' suggesting that all these arenas were still considered (or intended to seem) a single war, in contrast to a similar list of the 440s BC where the casualties died εν τοις πολεμοις 'in the wars'. CF Peloponnesian War In either 460 or 459 BC, Athens fought a number of major battles against the combined forces of several Peloponnesian states. On land, the Athenians were defeated by

2185-721: Is translated thus: 'Of the tribe Erechtheis, these died in the war, in Cyprus , in Egypt , in Phoenicia , in Halieis, in Aegina , at Megara , during the same year'. This fits very closely with Thucydides' account, the last three chronologically following the order he gives. Thucydides does not, however, mention Phoenicia, so the inscription gives evidence for fighting in a place we would otherwise not associate with this period. Also significant

2280-670: The Corinthian Gulf from the Peloponnese. Doris was traditionally identified as the homeland of the Dorians , and the Spartans, being Dorians, had a long-standing alliance with that state. Accordingly, a Spartan army under the command of the general Nicomedes, acting as deputy for the under-age king Pleistoanax , was dispatched across the Corinthian Gulf to assist. This army forced the Phocians to accept terms, but while

2375-538: The Delian League , in a conference of Ionian and Aegean states at Delos . The Athenians rebuilt their walls in secret at the urging of Themistocles, who convinced the Athenians that this was the best way to protect themselves. Themistocles also delayed talks with Sparta for universal arms control by constantly finding issues with Sparta's proposals, stating that it would leave Athens vulnerable to Sparta's superior hoplites and phalanx fighting formation. After

2470-573: The Long Walls , a defensive structure that secured the communication lines between the city and Piraeus. Like other walls that were built, it allowed the Athenians to refuse battle and retreat without fear of being cut from supplies coming from the sea. When the Phocians made war on the cities of Doris —the traditional homeland of Doric Greeks —the Doric Sparta sent a relief force under

2565-575: The Long Walls , maneuvered to cut off the Spartan army isolated in Boeotia. The exiled Athenian politician and general Cimon met with the Athenian with his own forces known as the tribe known as the Oeneis to assist Athens. Cimon was turned away from assisting the Athenian forces due to the Council of 500 fearing it would disrupt Athens forces. Facing either transport through waters controlled by

2660-577: 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 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

2755-425: The city-state of Athens for ten years. While some instances clearly expressed popular anger at 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"

2850-496: The oracle of Delphi. In 447 BC a revolt broke out in Boeotia which was to spell the end of Athens' "continental empire" on the Greek mainland. Tolmides led an army out to challenge the Boeotians, but, after some early successes, was defeated at the Battle of Coronea . In the wake of this defeat, Pericles adopted a more moderate stance and Athens abandoned Boeotia, Phocis, and Locris. The defeat at Coronea, however, triggered

2945-577: The (second) Peloponnesian War , with decidedly more conclusive results. Battle of Tanagra (457 BC) The Battle of Tanagra was a land battle that took place in Boeotia in 457 BC between Athens and Sparta during the First Peloponnesian War . Tension between Athens and Sparta had built up due the rebuilding of Athens' walls and Spartan rejection of Athenian military assistance. The Athenians were led by Myronides and held

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3040-401: The Athenian democratic regime. Athens, meanwhile, had been asserting itself on the international scene, and was eager to take the lead in the Aegean. The Athenians had already rebuilt their walls, against the express wishes of Sparta. In 479 BC and 478 BC Athens also took a much more active role in the Aegean campaigning. In the winter of 479–478 BC they accepted the leadership of a new league,

3135-488: The Athenian general and statesman Cimon advocated a policy of cooperation between the two states, acting as Sparta's proxenos at Athens. Still, hints of conflict emerged. Thucydides reports that in the mid 460s BC, Sparta decided to invade Attica during the Thasian rebellion , but was stopped by an earthquake in 464 BC that triggered a revolt among the helots . It was that helot revolt which would eventually bring on

3230-511: The Athenian navy or a difficult march through the Geraneia mountain passes held by Athenian soldiers supported from Megara , the Spartans decided to wait either for the opening of a safe route home or an outright Athenian assault. The battle was fought at Tanagra where the Athenian forces of 14,000 strong with their 1,000 allies from Argos met Sparta with 11,500 strong with 1,500 Spartans and 10,000 allied Hoplites . No details or accounts of

3325-415: 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 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

3420-429: The Athenians at Oenophyta . The Athenians scored a crushing victory which led to the Athenians conquering all of Boeotia except for Thebes, as well as Phocis and Locris . The Athenians pulled down Tanagra's fortifications and took the hundred richest citizens of Locris and made them hostages. The Athenians also took this chance to complete the construction of their long walls. Shortly after this, Aegina surrendered and

3515-528: The Athenians regrouped under the command of Myronides . They then defeated Thebes at the Battle of Oenophyta and took control of Boeotia, taking down the wall the Spartans had built and taking one hundred of the richest men of the Opuntian Locris as hostages. With the victory, the Athenians also occupied Phocis , the original source of the conflict and the Opuntian Locris. Years after

3610-483: The Battle of Tanagra, Cimon was recalled from exile due to the special relations they had between Sparta and Athens. With these special relations, Cimon helped create a five year peace treaty between Athens and Sparta. 38°19′N 23°32′E  /  38.317°N 23.533°E  / 38.317; 23.533 Ostracism Ostracism ( Greek : ὀστρακισμός , ostrakismos ) was an Athenian democratic procedure in which any citizen could be expelled from

3705-472: The Corinthian and Saronic gulfs, Attica was unassailable from the Peloponnese. The Spartans' inability to attack Megara proved to be a key component in their loss to the Athenians, but one scholar believes that the Spartans' inability to attack and control Megara was due to poor calculations and Athenian efforts to avoid an open land battle with the Spartans. Athens' remarkable string of successes came to

3800-616: The First Peloponnesian War broke out, Athens and Spartans had fought alongside each other in the Greco-Persian Wars . In that war, Sparta held hegemony over what modern scholars call the Hellenic League and the overall command in the crucial victories of 480 and 479 BC. Over the next several years, however, Spartan leadership bred resentment among the Greek naval powers that took the lead in carrying

3895-459: 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

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3990-575: The Peloponnesian League worsened due to a breakdown in diplomatic affronts and demands. In 478 BC, wanting to deny any future Persian invasion a base from which to operate, Sparta had urged Athens, along with other Greek cities, to refrain from rebuilding their walls. However, suspecting a Spartan ploy and having already begun the work of construction, Athens employed subterfuge to delay the wheels of diplomacy until Athens could finish them. Athens did this by waiting to send Athenian politician Themistocles to Lacedaemon until Athens had started constructing

4085-414: 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

4180-649: The armies of Corinth and Epidaurus at Halieis, but at sea they were victorious at Cecryphaleia (a small island between Aegina and the coast of Epidaurus). Alarmed by this Athenian aggressiveness in the Saronic Gulf , Aegina entered into the war against Athens, combining its powerful fleet with that of the Peloponnesian allies. In the resulting sea battle, the Athenians won a commanding victory, capturing seventy Aeginetan and Peloponnesian ships. They then landed at Aegina and, led by Leocrates , laid siege to

4275-528: The army was in Doris an Athenian fleet moved into position to block its return across the Corinthian Gulf. At this point Nicomedes led his army south into Bœotia. Several factors may have influenced his decision to make this move. First, secret negotiations had been underway with a party at Athens which was willing to betray the city to the Spartans in order to overthrow the democracy. Furthermore, Donald Kagan has suggested that Nicomedes had been in contact with

4370-459: The battle have been found. While no description of the events within the battle was given, both the Spartan and Athenian forces claimed both suffered great losses. Sparta claimed victory of this battle and were now able to return home through the mountain passes of the Isthmus , cutting down the fruit trees once crossing into the Megarid along the journey home. Sixty two days after the battle,

4465-593: 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 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,

4560-469: The city. With substantial Athenian detachments tied down in Egypt and Aegina, Corinth invaded the Megaris , attempting to force the Athenians to withdraw their forces from Aegina to meet this new threat. Instead, the Athenians scraped together a force of men too old and boys too young for ordinary military service and sent this force, under the command of Myronides , to relieve Megara. The resulting battle

4655-526: 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 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

4750-418: The command of Nicomedes , son of Cleombrotus , acting as regent for his under-age nephew, King Pleistoanax . An army of 1,500 Spartan hoplites with 10,000 of their allies entered Boeotia and compelled the submission of Phocis . Athens, already contemptuous of Spartan treatment and now suspecting Athens of negotiating with factions within the city to undermine democracy and prevent the construction of

4845-473: The completion of the walls Themistocles declared Athens independent of Spartan hegemony, stating that Athens knew what was in its best interest and was now strong enough to defend itself. At this time, one of the first hints of animosity between Athens and Sparta emerged in an anecdote reported by Diodorus Siculus, who said that the Spartans in 475–474 BC considered reclaiming the hegemony of the campaign against Persia by force. Modern scholars, although uncertain of

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4940-426: 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

5035-426: The crisis that precipitated the war. Unable to quell the revolt themselves, the Spartans summoned all their allies to assist them, invoking the old Hellenic League ties, especially looking for help from the Athenians, who, at this point, had become known for their siege warfare. Athens responded to the call, sending out 4,000 men with Cimon at their head. However, when the Athenians failed at their siege efforts against

5130-426: The dating and reliability of this story, have generally cited it as evidence of the existence, even at this early date, of a "war party" in Sparta. For some time, however, friendly relations prevailed between Athens and Sparta. Themistocles , the Athenian of the period most associated with an anti-Spartan policy, was ostracised at some point in the late 470s BC, and was later forced to flee to Persia. In his place,

5225-541: 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

5320-544: The elite Athenians who suffered ostracism were rich or noble men who had connections or xenoi in 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

5415-455: The exiled Athenian politician Cimon , armoured for battle, approached the Athenian lines to offer his services, but was ordered to depart; before going, he ordered his friends to prove their loyalty through their bravery. This they did, but the Athenians were defeated in the battle, although both sides suffered heavy losses. The Spartans, rather than invading Attica, marched home across the isthmus, and Donald Kagan believes that at this point Cimon

5510-502: The expulsion. Ostracism 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

5605-414: The finances of the league, and a number of inscriptions survive showing who contributed to the wealth of the league and how much each city gave. Osborne and Rhodes' new book containing a great number of the inscriptions available from this period has one tribute list from 454/3 depicting the amount of tribute which Athens received from its allies and which it dedicated to Athena. The change in the location of

5700-400: 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 was allowed to return without stigma. It was possible for the assembly to recall an ostracized person ahead of time; before

5795-467: The government of Thebes and planned to unify Boeotia under Theban leadership; which, upon his arrival, he seems to have done. With a strong Spartan army in Boeotia and the threat of treason in the air, the Athenians marched out with as many troops, both Athenian and allied, as they could muster to challenge the Peloponnesians. The two armies met at the Battle of Tanagra . Before the battle,

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5890-430: The helots, the Spartans became fearful of Athens' revolutionary views being so close to the helots and Spartans. Fearing the Athenians may choose to side with the revolting helots, the Spartans sent them back home to Athens, alone of all their allies. This action destroyed the political credibility of Cimon; he had already been under assault by his Athenian opponents led by Ephialtes , and shortly after this embarrassment he

5985-485: 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

6080-518: The intent of that proposal; some regard it as a good faith effort to secure a lasting peace, while others view it as a propaganda tool. In any event, Sparta derailed the congress by refusing to attend. In the same year the Second Sacred War erupted, when Sparta detached Delphi from Phocis and rendered it independent. In 448 BC, Pericles led the Athenian army against Delphi, in order to reinstate Phocis to its former sovereign rights over

6175-404: The island, destroying the force almost entirely. Though the force that was obliterated was probably not as large as the 200 ships that had originally been sent, it was at least 40 ships with their full complements, a significant number of men. It was in 454 that the treasury of the Delian League, which Athens was head of, was moved from Delos to Athens. This change gave Athens greater control over

6270-525: The main parts of their empires. Athens continued its domination of the sea while Sparta dominated the land. Megara returned to the Peloponnesian League and Aegina became a tribute-paying but autonomous member of the Delian League. The war between the two leagues restarted in 431 BC, leading to the Second Peloponnesian War . It ended with a conclusive Spartan victory, where, in 404 BC, Athens was occupied by Sparta. Only twenty years before

6365-413: 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 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

6460-488: 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

6555-448: 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

6650-407: 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

6745-655: The peak of Athenian power. Holding Boeotia and Megara on land and dominating the sea with its fleet, the city had stood utterly secure from attack. The events of 447 BC and 446 BC, however, destroyed this position, and although not all Athenians gave up their dreams of unipolar control of the Greek world, the peace treaty that ended the war laid out the framework for a bipolar Greece. In return for abandoning her continental territories, Athens received recognition of her alliance by Sparta. The peace concluded in 445 BC, however, would last for less than half of its intended 30 years. In 431 BC, Athens and Sparta would go to war once again in

6840-506: 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

6935-402: The same time, Athens settled the helots exiled after the defeat of their revolt at Naupactus on the Corinthian Gulf . By 460 BC, Athens found itself openly at war with Corinth and several other Peloponnesian states, and a larger war was imminent. As this war was beginning, Athens also took on a serious military commitment in another part of the Aegean when they sent a force to assist Inarus ,

7030-433: The treasury is often pin-pointed as a focal point for the realisation of an Athenian empire. The disaster in Egypt severely shook Athenian control of the Aegean, and for some years afterwards the Athenians concentrated their attention on reorganising the Delian League and stabilising the region. The Athenians responded to a call for assistance from Orestes, the son of Echecratides , King of Thessaly , to restore him after he

7125-406: The tribe Erechtheis . It is unusual in focusing on a single tribe as it was common for the dead of all ten tribes to be listed together on either a single Stele or several adjoining stelai with a common title. Perhaps it can be explained in this instance, however, by the unusually high death toll; 185 personal names are listed on the inscription in total. The list is preceded by an inscription which

7220-515: The urging of Cimon , who was appointed its commander. Sparta grew suspicious that the Athenians were potentially aiding the helots in Ithome in their uprising. Sparta turned away the Athenian forces that were sent to aid Sparta. These actions resulted in rising political tensions between Athens and Sparta. Athens was insulted and humiliated by Sparta’s actions, and this led to Athens breaking their alliance with Sparta. In 458 BC, Athens began building

7315-488: 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 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

7410-459: The walls resulting in the Long Walls being nearly completed by the time Themistocles told Sparta that there were plans to rebuild the Long Walls. In 464 BC, suffering another Helot rebellion and failing to make progress in the siege against their stronghold Ithome , Sparta had asked for Athens' aid along with its other allies. A "considerable force" was sent out to support the Spartans at

7505-618: The war against Persian territories in Asia and the Aegean, and after 478 BC the Spartans abandoned their leadership of this campaign. Sparta grew wary of Athens' strength after they had fought alongside each other to disperse the Persians from their lands. When Athens started to rebuild its walls and the strength of its naval power, Sparta and its allies began to fear that Athens was becoming too powerful. Different policies made it difficult for Athens and Sparta to avoid going to war, since Athens wanted to expand its territory and Sparta wanted to dismantle

7600-528: The war flared up again in 448 BC with the start of the Second Sacred War. In 446 BC, Boeotia revolted and defeated the Athenians at Coronea and regained their independence. The First Peloponnesian War ended in an arrangement between Sparta and Athens, which was ratified by the Thirty Years' Peace (winter of 446–445 BC). According to the provisions of this peace treaty, both sides maintained

7695-463: Was exiled. Together with their Boeotian and Phocian allies, the Athenians marched to Pharsalus, today's Farsala . They were not able to achieve their goals because of the Thessalian cavalry and were forced to return to Athens not having restored Orestes or captured Pharsalus. Therefore, in 451 BC, when Cimon returned to the city, his ostracism over, the Athenians were willing to have him negotiate

7790-441: Was forced to flee into exile, unable to pay. With the Spartan threat removed, Pericles crossed back to Euboea with 50 ships and 5,000 soldiers, crushing all opposition. He then inflicted a harsh punishment on the landowners of Chalcis , who lost their properties. The residents of Istiaia, who had butchered the crew of an Athenian trireme , were uprooted and replaced by 2,000 Athenian settlers. The arrangement between Sparta and Athens

7885-432: Was forced to pull down its walls, surrender its fleet and became a tribute-paying member of the Delian League , completing what Donald Kagan has called an annus mirabilis for the Athenians. The Athenians, pleased by their success, sent an expedition under the general Tolmides to ravage the coast of the Peloponnese. The Athenians circumnavigated the Peloponnese and attacked and sacked the Spartan dockyards, whose location

7980-464: Was indecisive, but the Athenians held the field at the end of the day and were thus able to set up a trophy of victory. About twelve days later the Corinthians attempted to return to the site to set up a trophy of their own, but the Athenians issued forth from Megara and routed them; during the retreat after the battle a large section of the Corinthian army blundered into a ditch-ringed enclosure on

8075-500: 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

8170-530: Was most probably Gythium . The Athenians followed up this success by capturing the city of Chalcis on the Corinthian Gulf and then landing in the territory of Sicyon and defeating the Sicyonians in battle. Modern scholars have emphasised the critical significance of Athenian control of Megara in enabling the early Athenian successes in the war. Megara provided a convenient port on the Corinthian Gulf, to which Athenian rowers could be transported overland, and

8265-415: 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 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

8360-563: 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

8455-406: 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

8550-445: Was ostracised. The demonstration of Spartan hostility was unmistakable, and when Athens responded, events spiralled rapidly into war. Athens concluded several alliances in quick succession: one with Thessaly , a powerful state in the north; one with Argos , Sparta's traditional enemy for centuries; and one with Megara , a former ally of Sparta's which was faring badly in a border war with Sparta's more powerful ally, Corinth . At about

8645-501: 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

8740-440: 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 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

8835-476: Was ratified by the "Thirty Years' Peace" (winter of 446–445 BC). According to this treaty, Megara was returned to the Peloponnesian League , Troezen and Achaea became independent, Aegina was to be a tributary to Athens but autonomous, and disputes were to be settled by arbitration. Each party agreed to respect the alliances of the other. The middle years of the First Peloponnesian War marked

8930-604: Was recalled from exile and negotiated a four-month truce between the sides; other scholars believe no such truce was concluded, and place Cimon's return from exile at a later date. Athenian success can also be attributed to them making an alliance with Argos, Sparta's enemy and only threat for control over the Peloponnesian league. The alliance between Athens and Argos was moreover seen as a defensive measure to counteract Sparta's military strength. The Athenians rebounded well after their defeat at Tanagra, by sending an army under Myronides to attack Boeotia. The Boeotian army gave battle to

9025-695: 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

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