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The Culture and Politics of Athens, c.460–c.399 BC

Ostracism and the popular lawcourts

  • 3 things to know
  • Component Group 1

Overview

Recall questions on the procedure, quorum and penalty of ostracism, the ostracisms of Themistocles, Cimon, Thucydides son of Melesias and Hyperbolus, arguments for and against it, the selection, size and pay of juries, how a trial ran, graphe and dike, the graphe paranomon, and allied cases heard at Athens.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

State the quorum that applied to an ostracism.

Key term

Name two prominent Athenians ostracised in the first half of the fifth century.

Key term

What happened at the ostracism of Hyperbolus, and what followed from it?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    What happened to a man who was ostracised?

    Model answer

    He had to leave Attica for ten years, but he kept his property and his citizenship and could return afterwards without disgrace.

  2. 2

    Describe the two stages by which an ostracism took place.

    Model answer

    In the sixth prytany the assembly voted on whether to hold an ostracism that year, and if it agreed the vote itself was taken in the Agora some weeks later.

  3. 3

    How did a citizen cast his vote in an ostracism?

    Model answer

    He scratched the name of the man he wanted expelled onto a broken piece of pottery and placed it inside the fenced enclosure.

  4. 4

    State the quorum that applied to an ostracism.

    Model answer

    At least six thousand votes were needed, although our ancient sources disagree over whether that was the total cast or the number required against a single man.

  5. 5

    Name two prominent Athenians ostracised in the first half of the fifth century.

    Model answer

    Themistocles was ostracised in the 470s BC and Cimon in 461 BC.

  6. 6

    Why was the ostracism of Thucydides son of Melesias in 443 BC significant for Pericles?

    Model answer

    It removed the leader of the organised opposition to his policies, above all to his spending of allied money on building, and left him without a serious rival.

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AThe tradition speaks of about seventy.
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Themistocles was ostracised in the 470s BC and Cimon in 461 BC.
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