Latest / The History of Greece: Philosophy, Empire, and Endless Reinvention — Fexingo History
Athenian Ostracism: When Democracy Banished Its Best Citizens
In this episode of The History of Greece, Lucas and Luna dive into one of the most peculiar institutions of Athenian democracy: ostracism. Not exile, not execution — a ten-year vacation voted by the people, for the crime of being too popular. They explore the origins under Cleisthenes, the first known victim (Hipparchus of the Peisistratid family), and the famous case of Themistocles, the victor of Salamis who ended up in Persian service. They discuss the mechanics — how the ekklesia voted each year whether to hold an ostracism, then scratched names on potsherds (ostraka) — and the surprising…
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