Athenian Ostracism as a Tool Against Tyranny

[The_Golden_Turd]

Philochorus: Atthis (fragments)

attalus.org/translate/philochorus.html

[30] LEX. CANTAB. A kind of ostracism: Philochorus describes ostracism in his third book, in these words: “Ostracism takes place as follows. Before the eighth prytany, the people vote on whether it is necessary to hold an ostracism. If it is necessary, the agora is fenced in with boards, leaving ten entrances, through which the people enter in their tribes, and deposit their shards {ostraca} with the writing facing downwards. The nine archons and the council oversee the process. When the shards have been counted to determine who has the most votes (which must be not less than 6,000), then this person must, after settling his personal commitments, leave the city within ten days, for a period of ten years (this was later reduced to five years). He is allowed to receive income from his possessions, but he must not come nearer {to Athens} than Geraestum, the headland on {the coast of} Euboea.” . . . Hyperbolus was the only one of the common citizens to be ostracised, because of his worthless character, not because he was suspected of aiming at tyranny. After this, the custom lapsed into disuse. It started when Cleisthenes passed a law, after he had deposed the tyrants, to enable him to expel the friends of the tyrants.

[Moreno]

Yes, every option currently considered is based on laws restricting behavior or using power to destroy power and the social power is bypassed for no good reason. I think the only healthy systems would focus on using social power to reject certain patterns, up to ostracism as a last resort before violence.

[The_Golden_Turd]

You’ve used the word power to explain three different things, what do you mean?