An Athenian procedure by which citizens could vote to banish a prominent person for ten years without a trial and without loss of property.
In more detail
The Assembly first decided, without debate, whether to hold the ballot. Aristotle attributes the law to Cleisthenes; Britannica dates the first use to 488–487 BCE and notes it fell into disuse after about 417 BCE. Similar devices existed in Argos, Miletus, Syracuse and Megara. Ostracism differs from Roman exile, which involved loss of property and status.