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Ostracism

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica · Encyclopaedia Britannica · 2026

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Web page
Author
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Accessed
2026-09-01
Reliability notes
Online article, accessed 23 October 2026.

Claims citing this source

1 claims
EstablishedOstracism let the Assembly vote on whether to hold a ballot; if a sufficiently large number of citizens named the same person, he had to leave Attica for ten years but kept his property. Britannica dates its first use to 488–487 BCE.