Some Fifth and Fourth Century Views on the Purpose of Ostracism

Abstract

In their discussions of ostracism as an institution, modern scholars tend to rely on the fuller accounts of relatively late sources (Androtion as quoted by Harpocration,  Aristotle, Diodorus Siculus and Plutarch), and little attention is paid to the less systematic evidence found in several earlier literary sources (Cratinus, Aristophanes, Thucydides, [Andocides] 4, Plato, Demosthenes and Theophrastus).