the.com/ostracism
Democracy's way of voting someone off the island, literally, with broken pottery.
means The act of excluding someone from a group or community, cutting them off from the conversation entirely.
from From Greek 'ostrakismos,' rooted in 'ostrakon' — a broken piece of pottery or shell. In ancient Athens, citizens could vote once a year to banish a man for ten years, writing his name on shards of pottery (ostraka) instead of paper. Enough votes against you, and you were gone — no trial, no crime needed, just enough fellow citizens who found you dangerous or simply too powerful. The pottery wasn't incidental; it was cheap, plentiful scrap, the ancient equivalent of scratch paper for a very permanent decision.
- origin
- athenians scratched names on pottery shards called ostraka
- penalty
- ten years exile, no trial, no crime required
- threshold
- needed six thousand votes just to banish someone
- irony
- property and citizenship stayed yours the whole time