Meaning of ostracon | Babel Free

Definitions

A piece of pottery or stone, usually broken off from a vase or other earthenware vessel, especially one used to cast a vote during the Ancient Greek process of ostracism.

Equivalents

Examples

“The process⟳ in this condemnation was thus : the people being assembled, every man took a tile called ostrakon and carried it to a certain part of the market place⟳, surrounded by wooden rails for that purpose, in which were ten gates for the ten tribes to enter⟳ distinctly : in this place⟳ the tiles were deposited by each person, and numbered in gross by the archons.”

“Also on view⟳ are ostraca, pottery fragments on which Athenians inscribed the names of persons they felt too powerful for the good of the city and deserving of ostracism, or 10 years’ exile, a procedure formalized by Cleisthenes.”

“If there was sufficient interest⟳, the Athenians could vote⟳ once per year to ostracize someone, exiling him from Athens for a period of 10 years. To vote⟳, Athenians scratched the name⟳ of the person to be ostracized on potsherds, broken pottery pieces called ostraka—hence the name⟳ of the procedure.”

CEFR level