Ostracism
History of Greece |
---|
Greece portal |
Ostracism (
Procedure
The term "ostracism" is derived from the
Each year the Athenians were asked in the
If they voted "yes", then an ostracism would be held two months later. In a section of the agora set off and suitably barriered[5] that was called perischoinisma (περισχοίνισμα),[6][7][8] 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 the votes would remain anonymous.[1] Nine Archontes and the council of the five hundred supervised the process[1] while the Archontes counted the ostraka submitted and sorted the names into separate piles.[9] The person whose pile contained 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;[10] according to a fragment of Philochorus, at least 6,000 votes had to be cast against the person who was to be banished.[11][12] Plutarch's evidence for a quorum of 6,000 agrees with the number required for grants of citizenship in the following century and is generally preferred.[13][14][15][16]
The person newly ostracised had ten days to leave the city.
History
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 the Athenians 22.3,[18] 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 is as follows:
- 487 Hipparchos son of Charmos, a relative of the Peisistratos
- 486 Megacles son of Hippocrates; Cleisthenes' nephew (possibly ostracised twice)[19]
- 485 Kallixenos nephew of Cleisthenes (not known for certain)[citation needed]
- 484 Xanthippus son of Ariphron, Pericles' father
- 482 Aristides son of Lysimachus
- 471 Themistocles son of Neocles (last possible year)
- 461 Miltiades
- 460 Alcibiades, father of Cleinias (possibly ostracised twice)[19]
- 457 Menon son of Meneclides (less certain)
- 442 Thucydidesson of Melesias
- 440s Callias son of Didymos (less certain)
- 440s Damonson of Damonides (less certain)
- 416 Hyperbolus son of Antiphanes (±1 year)
Around 12,000 political ostraka have been excavated in the Athenian agora and in the Kerameikos.[20] 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 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.[21]
The last known ostracism was that of
Distinction from other Athenian democratic processes
Ostracism was crucially different from
A further distinction between these two modes (and not obvious from 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 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.[23]
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,
An example of the practicalities of ostracism comes from the cache of 190
There 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.[26]
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 a battle the week before such a second vote.[17] It opened a period for discussion (or perhaps agitation), whether informally in daily talk or public speeches before the Athenian assembly or Athenian courts.[note 1] In this process a consensus, or rival consensuses, might emerge.
The process of democratized influence over elite members of Athenian society might have emboldened the popular citizenry into civic action, while prominent citizens might have felt pressure to please those below their social standing. In that time of waiting, ordinary Athenian citizens must have felt a certain power over the greatest members of their city; conversely, the most prominent citizens had an incentive to worry how their social inferiors regarded them.
Purpose
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 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
Tyranny and democracy had arisen at Athens out of clashes between regional and factional groups organised around politicians, including Cleisthenes. As a reaction, in many of its features 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.[27]
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
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.[29] As such, it may be seen as a secular, civic variant of Athenian curse tablets, studied in scholarly literature under 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.[citation needed]
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 was sick of hearing him being called "the Just".[30] 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 a second chance and society would be spared feuds, civil war, political tensions and/or murder.
Fall into disuse
The last ostracism, that of
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 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
Analogues
Other cities are known to have set up forms of ostracism on the Athenian model, namely
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 was possible to write expletives, short epigrams or cryptic injunctions beside the name of the candidate without invalidating the vote.[32] For example:
- Kallixenes, son of Aristonimos, "the traitor"
- Archen, "lover of foreigners"
- Agasias, "the donkey"
- Megacles, "the adulterer"
Modern usage
Ostracism is evident in several animal species,[33]: 10 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".[33]
Williams suggests that the most common form of ostracism is silent treatment,[33]: 2 wherein refusing to communicate with a person effectively ignores and excludes them.[34]
Computer networks
Ostracism in the context of
Reactions
Williams and his colleagues have charted responses to ostracism in some five thousand cases, and found two distinctive patterns of response. The first is increased
Age
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.[42]
Whistleblowing
Research suggests that ostracism 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.[33]: 194–195 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.[43]
Qahr and ashti
Qahr and ashti is a culture-specific Iranian form of personal shunning, most frequently of another family member in Iran.[44] 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[45] that is never disclosed to the public at large, as to do so would be a breach of social etiquette.[46]
Qahr is avoidance of a lower-ranking family member who has committed a perceived insult. It is one of several ritualised social customs of Iranian culture.[44]
Gozasht means 'tolerance, understanding and a desire or willingness to forgive'[47] and is an essential component of Qahr and Ashti[47] for the psychological needs of closure and cognition, as well as a culturally accepted source for practicing necessary religious requirements of tawbah (repentance, see Koran 2:222)[48] and du'a (supplication).[49]
See also
- Cancel culture
- Contempt
- Isolation to facilitate abuse
- McCarthyism
- Petalism
- Social control
- Witch-hunt
Notes
References
- ^ ISBN 3-406-46613-3.
- ^ "The Price of Papyrus in Greek Antiquity, Gustave Glotz 1929". www.marxists.org. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
- JSTOR 41216910.
- ^ OCLC 355696355.
- ^ According to some sources, part of the agora was roped-off, according to others it was temporarily immured with wooden planks.
- ^ https://agora.ascsa.net/file?id=Agora%3AReport%3A2012%20Excavations&field=PDF&path=%2FAgora%2FPDFs%2FReports%2F2012%20Excavations.pdf
- ^ In Pollux, VIII. 20 (ed. Bethe, Leipzig, 1900–37) in the section on σκεύη δικαστικά—κιγκλίς, δρύφακτος κτλ.—we read περισχοινίσαντας (περισκηνήσαντας A) δέ τι τῆς ἀγορᾶς μέρος ἔδει φέρειν εἰς τὸν περιορισθέντα τόπον Ἀθηναίων τὸν βουλόμενον ὄστρακον ἐγγεγραμμένον τοὔνομα τοῦ μέλλοντος ἐξοστρακίƷεσθαι.[1]
- ^ Perischoinisma : The roping off of an area outside a structure being used as a court. [2] [3] [4]
- ^ a b Burckhardt, Leonhard; Burckhardt, Leonhard Alexander; Ungern-Sternberg, Jürgen von (2000), p.69
- ^ "Plutarch, Aristides, chapter 7". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 21 May 2021.
- ^ [5] See n. 30
- . Retrieved 21 May 2021.
- ISBN 0-521-42389-9.
- Thames and Hudson. pp. 89ff.
- ISBN 0-19-814697-3.
- ISBN 0-691-02864-8.
- ^ a b Plutarch, Life of Cimon 17.2–6.
- ^ "Aristotle, Athenian Constitution, chapter 22". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
- ^ a b Lysias 14.39
- S2CID 194550340. Retrieved 21 October 2022.
- ^ Mabel Lang, (1990). Ostraka: 3–6, Athens.
- . Retrieved 8 June 2021.
- OCLC 1129751693.
- OCLC 894271876.
- ^ Broneer, Oscar. "Excavations on the North Slope of the Acropolis, 1937". Hesperia. 1938: 228–243.
- ^ See Surikov, pp. 284–294
- S2CID 55062850.
- ^ Plutarch, Life of Pericles 11–12, 14.
- ISBN 978-1910589106.
- ^ Plutarch, Life of Aristides 7.7
- ^ see Surikov, pp. 121–122.
- ^ see Surikov, pp. 73–80, and references therein.
- ^ OCLC 47443948.
- ^ Williams, K. (2001).Ostracism: The Power of Silence. New York: Guilford Press. pp. 2–18. See also Sherratt, S. (2021). Workplace ostracism in academia. Australian Universities Review, 63(2):35–43.
- ^ Douglas, K. 2008. 'Antisocial Communication on Electronic Mail and the Internet'. In: A. Konjin, M. Tanis, S. Utz, and S Barnes (eds.) Mediated Interpersonal Communication. (200–214). New York: Routledge. p. 203.
- ^ Wesselmann, E. and Williams, K. 2013. 'Ostracism and Stages of Coping'. In: C. Dewall (ed.) Oxford Handbook of Social Exclusion. (20–30). Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 21.
- ISSN 0747-5632.
- ^ S2CID 225424569.
- S2CID 212650441.
- PMID 32612421.
- ^ J. Rose, The Literary Churchill (Yale 2015) p. 233
- S2CID 220655977.
- ^ Brown, A. J. (ed) 2008. Whistling While They Work. Canberra: ANU Press. p. 129.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-317-22012-1.
- ISBN 978-0-674-02882-1.
- ^ "Iran – Language, Culture, Customs and Etiquette". commisceo-global.com. Archived from the original on 19 May 2017. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
- ^ a b Iran: At War with History, by John Limbert, 1987 pp. 37–38
- ^ Repentance http://sunnahonline.com/library/purification-of-the-soul/175-repentance
- ^ "What is Dua?". islam.ru. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
External links
- Mitchell, John Malcolm (1911). Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 20 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 360. . In