The Hellenistic and Roman Discourse on Athenian Ostracism

The project we propose focuses on a challenge every democracy faces that is, how to deal with élites in this type of political system. Their cooperation is needed for the stability of the system, but their existence is at the same time dangerously at odds with the ideal of equality among all citizens. Athenian democracy introduced an innovative mechanism to solve the problem: ostracism. This famous procedure each year gave the citizens the power to exile one of the leading men by means of a popular vote. But of what procedural elements did these ostrakophoriai consist exactly? How and according to which criteria was this institution as such judged by the demos, on the one hand, and by the élite, on the other? Was it used deliberately as a means to solve political stalemates or to curb the ambitions of pre-eminent individuals by forcing them into conformity? What characterizes ostracism as part of Athenian democracy and what was its function within the constitutional framework? Despite the existence of contemporary literary sources and an abundance of ostraka finds, these questions can be answered only by analyzing the post-classical evidence. Unlike post- classical authors, who provided comprehensive treatments of ostracism and its history, contemporary writers saw no need to go into detail regarding this subject as their readers had first-hand knowledge. An overarching analysis of all ostracism-related passages from the Hellenistic and Roman periods and a systematic assessment of their contribution to the reconstruction of Athenian ostracism still constitute a major desideratum. As the views of these later authors are shaped not only by the sources they used but also by the political concepts of their own times and their own literary intentions, such an analysis has to be based on clear awareness of the context of each passage and painstaking work according to the methods of philology and history. The Viennese edition of and commentary on the contemporary sources for ostracism (ed. by Peter Siewert 2002) form the foundation for the project proposed here. Based on this first volume of Ostrakismos-Testimonien (= OT1) and substantial preparatory work already completed by the applicant, the project has two closely intertwined goals namely, 1) to prepare a second volume of Ostrakismos-Testimonien containing all sources from the Hellenistic and Roman periods, and 2) using the detailed analyses and comments produced for this volume to answer the above-stated questions concerning Athenian ostracisms nature and functions in a fresh and comprehensive way. In conjunction with its predecessor, the project offers a unique opportunity to study how the discourse on a central institution of Athenian democracy evolved from its introduction until the Roman imperial period.

THE HELLENISTIC AND ROMAN DISCOURSE ON OSTRACISM - TRADITION, TRANSITION AND CONTEMPORARY INTENTIONS A challenge every democracy faces is, how to manage the relation between the mass of the people and the élites. Their cooperation is needed for the stability of the system, but their existence is at the same time dangerously at odds with the ideal of equality among all citizens. Athenian democracy introduced an innovative mechanism to solve the problem: ostracism. This procedure each year gave the citizens the power to exile one of the leading men for 10 years by means of a popular vote. But how and according to which criteria was this institution as such judged by the demos on the one hand, and by the élite on the other? Despite the existence of contemporary literary sources and an abundance of ostraka finds, this and other questions can be answered only by analyzing the post-classical evidence, since contemporary writers saw no need to go into these details. Nevertheless, an overarching analysis of all ostracism-related passages from the Hellenistic and Roman periods and a systematic assessment of their contribution to the reconstruction of Athenian ostracism constituted a major desideratum. Based on the Viennese edition of and commentary on the contemporary sources for ostracism culminating in the first volume of "Ostrakismos-Testimonien" the ostracism project's aim was to fill this gap. Aside from several special studies the most important results are: 1.) The second volume of "Ostrakismos-Testimonien" containing detailed analyses and comments of all sources from the Hellenistic and Roman periods. 2.) A comprehensive analysis of the different interpretative approaches adopted by the post-classical authors. It could be shown that a common feature of all the post-classical views on ostracism is the tendency to regard it as a purely political measure: the 5th century interpretation of ostracism as a means to punish behavior that proved damaging to the city or deviant from current civic norms doesn't matter anymore. Based on Aristoteles' Politik the purpose of ostracism was identified as a means to curb the influence of all too powerful political figures and judged to be a principally suitable way to achieve this goal. Furthermore the actual ostrakophoriai were seen to be instigated by the people's envy and resentment towards their political leaders. This shift of perspective must be due to the distance in time, the lack of personal involvement and the literary intentions of the Hellenistic writers: while the contemporaries of ostrakophoriai tried to justify their decision to banish a person as an adequate measure against (alleged) wrong-doers, the authors of the Hellenistic era focussed on ostracism's political character and thereby shaped the general outlook of the subsequent discourse on ostracism.