Elections in Ancient Athens

Thinking about our forthcoming election, I was somehow reminded of a story from ancient Athens.

One of the strangest of elections was held in Fifth Century BCE Athens . It was an election to determine whether the citizens of Athens wanted to banish some prominent person.

In January or February of each year, citizens were asked if they wanted to hold an ostracism (so called because the ballots were scratched on shards of broken pottery known as "ostrakon"). The actual vote was held two months later, and if there were a total of six thousand votes, the person with the most votes was banished from Athens (ostracised) for a period of ten years.

Over the years, many prominent Athenians were ostracised. The reasons for ostracism were often not clear.

In one story, an Athenian name Aristides, known as "the Just," was being considered for banishment in 482 BCE. As the vote was being taken, an illiterate citizen approached Aristides and asked him to write the name "Aristides" on his ostrakon. Aristides asked why. The man replied, "because I am tired of constantly hearing him called 'the Just.'"