Ostracism.—This was a peculiar device adopted by Greek city-states for getting temporary relief from the influence of prominent citizens, whose presence was for the time being considered undesirable. At Athens ostracism was introduced by the statesman Kleisthenes about 508 B.C. The method of effecting it was as follows. The popular assembly (Ekklesia) first decided whether they desired that ostracism should be carried out. If they considered it expedient, they met and recorded their vote. The name of the person they most wished to get rid of was written on a potsherd (ostrakon), and if six thousand votes were recorded against any one name, that man had to go into banishment for ten years. In Case K is a coloured illustration (No. 11) of three ostraka found at Athens (fig. 5). The names written on the sherds are well known in Greek history. Themistokles (fig. 5a), of the deme Phrearri, was the creator of Athenian sea-power. In consequence of this ostracism (ca. 471 B.C.) he died an exile at Magnesia on the Maeander. Megakles (fig. 5b) of the deme Alopeke, son of Hippokrates and uncle of Perikles, was ostracised in 487 B.C. as "a friend of the tyrants." In the next year, 486 B.C., was banished Xanthippos (fig. 5c), son of Arriphron and father of Perikles, on the ground of undue prominence. The Museum collection contains no ostraka of historic importance, but the potsherd inscribed by one Teos (No. 12) gives an idea of the actual object (fig. 6).
Dedications for Victory.—The dedication in a temple of a part of the spoils of victory was not merely a religious observance. It was also the formal entering of a claim to victory. The Etruscan helmet (No. 13) dedicated at Olympia by Hieron of Syracuse, is an example (fig. 7). It was found at Olympia in 1817, and was presented to the Museum by King George the Fourth. On the side is a votive inscription:
Fig. 7.—Etruscan Helmet Dedicated at Olympia by Hieron and the Syracusans (No. 13). 1:4.
Ἱάρων ὁ Δεινομένεος καὶ τοὶ Συρακόσιοι τῷ Δὶ Τύραν' ἀπὸ Κύμας—"Hieron son of Deinomenes and the Syracusans offer to Zeus Etruscan spoils from Kyme." Hieron was tyrant of Syracuse from 478 to 467 B.C., in succession to his brother Gelon, and was one of the most prominent figures of the age. Gelon had nobly upheld the supremacy of the Greeks in the west by destroying a Carthaginian host at Himera, in the same year and, as the tale went, on the same day as the battle of Salamis. Hieron added to the brilliance of the Sicilian court, and signalised his naval power in the great repulse of the Etruscans. The ancient city of Kyme, near Naples, the earliest Greek colony in the west, was hard pressed by the neighbouring barbarians and by the civilised and powerful state of Etruria. The Greeks appealed for help to Hieron, and he sent them a fleet of warships, which beat the Etruscans in sight of the citadel of Kyme, and broke their sea-power for ever (474 B.C.). From the arms and treasure taken in the battle Hieron made the customary offering in the Temple of Zeus at Olympia, and this helmet with its eloquent inscription was part of the dedicated spoil.
For other votive helmets see below, p. [76].
The votive spear-head, No. 14, dedicated by an unknown Theodoros to (Zeus) Basileus, about 500 B.C., was probably found at Olympia. The occasion of the dedication is unknown, but it nearly resembles No. 15 (cast), which was dedicated at Olympia by the Methanians as spoil from the Lacedaemonians.[5] The original is at Berlin. Several spear-heads of this type have been found. They do not seem to be effective for use in battle, and they are therefore supposed to have been specially made for dedicatory purposes. It has also been suggested that they are spear-butts, but this does not seem probable.
Θεόδωρος ἀνέθηκε Βασιλεῖ.