Oyster-shelling, black-balling, or expelling. Clisthenes gave
the people of Attica the power of removing from the state, without
making a definite charge, any leader of the people likely to subvert
the government. Each citizen wrote his vote on an earthen. ware table (ostracon), whence the term.
More on Ostracis'm from Infoplease:
- Ostracis'm - Ostracis'm Oyster-shelling, black-balling, or expelling. Clisthenes gave the people of Attica ...
- Dictionary of Phrase and Fable: O - Definitions, origins, and illustrative excerpts for words, phases, and literary allusions starting with "O"
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