Did you know that the origin of the word ostracize comes from a pottery shard? The Greeks recycled their broken pottery, and the shards have a touch of political intrigue. Once a year, the Greeks gathered to vote and name citizens they considered to be a threat. They wrote the name of the offender on a potshard. The shards, ostraca, were collected, then separated into piles of individual names. The largest pile identified the citizen who was then banished for ten years.
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After the counting, the actual ostraka were tossed in the street or any convenient hole. Ostraka are virtually indestructible. Excavations in Athens have produced over 11,000 examples. More than any literary text, ostraka bring to life a sense of Athenian politics. The shards preserve the names of well-known statesmen as well as unknown aspirants to political power.
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Athenians even ostracized heroes if their popularity was potentially threatening, the concern being that a powerful leader may become a tyrant. It was a polite warning of sorts that folks were getting a little tired of their success and growing wary – hence, the suggestion to take an extended vacation.
Here’s one of the more poetic banishments ~ Xanthippos, son of Arriphron, is cursed for his rascality; Too long he has abused our hospitality.
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So, why the Greek history lesson?
I read the comics and inevitably learn stuff.
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Like the height of Mount Everest (29,035 ft) and that the Nobel Peace Prize medal has three naked men with their hands on each other.
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Last week, Stephan Pastis, the American cartoonist and the creator of the comic strip Pearls Before Swine, threw something new into the mix.
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Well. Now. I. Am. Curious. Why don’t I know this?
Muse. Think. Google.
Ostrakismos ~ It isn’t just a Greek thing. It’s pervasive in society. Who wants others to look askance at us, berate us or exclude us? Jane Goodall observed it in primate interactions. We see it everyday ~ the cold shoulder, the silent treatment, time-out, whistleblowing, ex-communication and shunning.
Ignore. Exclude. Reject.
The Sicilians ostracized anyone of dangerous influence or ambition, but only for five years. The ancient Syracusans wrote the offender’s name on an olive leaf (petala). Hmmm, Petalism?
Look where comics can take you. Thanks, Stephan Pastis.
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Toni 9/12/11
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