What is the "Ostraka"?
Perhaps few people have heard the word “Ostraka”. Of course, some may know it well in detail, but, first of all, I would like to introduce reference materials for that question, "What is the "Ostraka? "
1. “The most prominent of the series of reforms passed down to with Cleisthenes’ name and attributed to him, however, is probably the system of the Ostracism(“Ostrakismos” in Greek). This is also an unprecedented and invented product of ingenuity. Simply saying, it is a system that, based on the consensus of the citizens indicated by the vote, they deported influential people who possibly overturn democracy from the city for a certain period of time. － "Classic Athens Politics and Society" written by Sadao Ito, University of Tokyo Press.
2. “Ostrakismos(in Greek)”－”Ostracism(in English): This is the exile system issued when Athenian democratic politics was established in the 6th century BC. The names of persons who would be exiled were written on a piece of ceramic, called “Ostrakon” in Greek, and voted. Its main purpose was to prevent the emergence of tyrants. If the number of the votes for someone exceeded 6,000, that person was exiled to another country for 10 years. – "Life and Culture of Ancient Greeks" written by J. P. Mahaffy.
3. First and foremost, the measures used by citizens to control the influence of talented individuals can be observed. It is the process of choosing the highest commander and the Ostracism(“Ostrakismos” in Greek).・ ・ ・ The Ostracism(“Ostrakismos” in Greek) was implemented under the pretext of expulsing the lordship of tyrants forever. This was something like that every winter the Council should ask the public of whether ostracizing a certain citizen or not. The one who received more than 6000 exile votes had to be deported for ten years, at least five years. Staying in land outside the city of origin was quite dangerous, and exile was equated with the death penalty. ... It was natural that the thoughts of influential people would be more humble considering the imminent exile. This is the source of concern that made even Pericles timid. Eternal hatred appears here. But that is not the hate of the lower class. Rather, this is the hatred of the thoughtless incompetent for the rare and incomparable. ... If we explain that it wasn't out of jealousy toward to that person, rather it was out of a genuine concern for him, it means showing too much respect for this system. ... Thus, as soon as publicly giving trust to someone had become obvious, the Ostracism(“Ostrakismos” in Greek) took place. ... Citizens finally learned to blindly entrust this method to the agitated politicians. －"History of Greek Culture," Vol. 1, written by J. Burghart.
4. This system was implemented in Athens in the 5th century BC. The law of this system regulated that a person who could become a tyrant or a person who became so powerful and dangerous that he could harm the state could be expelled from the country based on a citizen's vote for 10 years. No deprivation of citizenship and confiscation of property were required. It is said that this system was named "Ostrakismos" in Greek from the fact that a piece of ceramic(Ostraka), not a piece of shell, was used for voting and that it was founded by Kraysthenes in 508 BC. The first implementation was in 488 BC against Hipparchus, a relative of Peistrates. Once a year, the people's assembly voted on its implementation, and after passing the vote, each citizen engraved the name of the person to be exiled on a piece of ceramic(Ostraka) and voted it, and the one with the most votes was exiled. It is said that the voting result becomes effective when the total number of votes exceeds 6000 and when the number of votes of one person exceeds 6000. Approximately 20 cases of the Ostracism(“Ostrakismos” in Greek) are known, and prominent oligarchic politicians such as Kimon and Tucudydes (different from historians of the same name) were exiled. Later, it became more often used as a tool for political disputes, and stopped functioning after the Ostracism(“Ostrakismos” in Greek) of Hyperbolus in 418 BC. - Wtitten by Nobuyuki Maezawa. (c) 1998 Hitachi Digital Heibonsha, All rights reserved
As you can understand from the materials taken up above here, in Athens at that time, a system called “Ostrakismos” was devised in order to eliminate the rule by tyrants. And by using that system, such attempts had been made to protect democracy. The "porcelain piece" or "fragment of pottery" used at that time is said to be "ostraca". It comes from ancient Greek.
According to one record, human rule by humans began over 4200 years ago by Nimrod. It is said that the construction of the famous city of Babel (Babylon) and "Tower of Babel" was done under his leadership. 1st-century Jewish historian Josephus also said:
"[Nimrod] changed the situation little by little to make him to be a tyrant. He believed that the only way to keep people from fearing God was to constantly encourage people to rely on his own power. And if God wanted to flood the earth again, he threatened that he would take revenge on him by building a high tower that water would not reach, and avenging the destruction of their forefathers. People eagerly obeyed this counsel of [Nimrod], thinking that it was slavery to submit to God, so they embarked on the construction of the tower.... And the tower was built much faster than expected.”—Jewish Antiquities, I, 114, 115 (iv, 2, 3).
Since then, various forms of human rule by humans have been created. The direct democracy cultivated in ancient Athens is one of the historical trends of human rule by humans. Human history tells us that politics by the rule that those who have a strong desire for power, such as Nimrod, and those who have attempted to make their names, have come to obtain their own political power, or politics by the rule that members of families who have come to be called aristocracy class, so called, coming from a noble family, and those who have come to belong to elite class because of their excellent abilities, have come to obtain their own political powers in the privilege, furthermore, politics by the rule that those, typically just like as represented by ancient Athens, who have insisted to reform political system, and then in which the group leaders were elected and became political rulers, have come to obtain their own political powers as the privilege. So human history talks about various forms of human rule by humans. Of course, human rule by humans cannot be explained only by each political element, rather human history has spoke to us that human rule by humans has come to down to our days having complicatedly been intertwined those elements with each other.
In ancient Athens, the system called "ostraca", which was said to have been invented by Cleisthenes, came into effect then. It must have been welcomed as a wonderful system of "a product of unrivaled innovation" for protecting democracy for the first time. But what was the ending? What happened to that expectation?
It's often said that history repeats itself, but what does “ostraka” tell us?