"Id","Type","UserLevel","Name","Collection","dc-creator","Icon","dc-publisher","dc-date","dc-subject","dc-title","dc-description","Chronology","Redirect"
"Corinth:Basket:Provenance Unknown, Bought by Weinbergs from dealer in Athens said to","Basket","","Provenance Unknown, Bought by Weinbergs from dealer in Athens; said to","Corinth","","","","","Unknown | Provenance Unknown","Bought by Weinbergs from dealer in Athens; said to","Deposit","",""
"Agora:Webpage:f70020a0f0d117f0e80c1cece351acf2","Webpage","","Birth of Democracy: Practice of Ostracism","Agora","","","","","","","Ostracism Soon after their victory over the Persians at the battle of Marathon in 490 B.C., the Athenians began the practice of ostracism, a form of election designed to curb the power of any rising tyrant. They were probably inspired at least in part by the fact that their old tyrant Hippias, who had been thrown out years before, accompanied the Persian fleet to Marathon, hoping to be reinstalled in power in Athens once again. The procedure of ostracism was simple. Once a year the people would meet in the Agora and take a vote to determine if anyone was becoming too powerful and was in a position to establish a tyranny. If a simple majority voted yes, they met again in the Agora two months later. At this second meeting each citizen carried with him an ostrakon (potsherd) on which he had scratched the name of the person he wished ostracized. if at least 6,000 votes were cast, the man with the most votes lost and was exiled for ten years. Ostrakon of Megakles (left), ostracized in 486 B.C. Max. dim.: 0.11 m. Athens, Agora Museum P 14490. Inscribed ΜΕΓΑΚΛΕΣ ΗΙΠΠΟΚΡΑΤΕΣ, Megakles son of Hippokrates. Aristotle reports the ostracism of Megakles son of Hippokrates, and goes on to say that ""the Athenians continued for three years to ostracize the friends of the tyrants, on account of whom the law had been enacted"" (Athenian Constitution 22). More than 4,000 ostraka bearing Megakles' name were found in one deposit in the Kerameikos (the potters' quarter of Athens) and have been associated with the ostracism of 486 B.C., although the rude comments that accompany his name on some of these ostraka concentrate on his morals rather than on his tyrannical tendencies. Ostrakon of Xanthippos (right), ostracized in 484 B.C. Max. dim.: 0.073 m. Athens, Agora Museum P 6107. Inscribed: ΧΣΑΝΘΙΠΠΟΣ ΑΡΡΙΦΡΟΝΟΣ, Xanthippos son of Arriphron. Aristotle says that after three years of concentrating on ostracizing the friends of the tyrants, the Athenians ""took to removing anyone else who seemed too powerful: the first man unconnected with the tyranny to be ostracized was Xanthippos son of Arriphron"" (Athenian Constitution 22). The procedure was used frequently in the 480's and less often thereafter. While an interesting idea, it did not really work to curb ambition in the long run, for a prominent man, if powerful enough, could use it to eliminate his chief rival. Such an occurrence is recorded in 443 B.C., when Perikles was facing vociferous criticism of his policies, especially his building program. An ostracism was held, which resulted in the exile of his main opponent, Thucydides the son of Melesias (not Thucydides the historian). Plutarch describes the final ostracism and the abandonment of the procedure in 417 B.C.: Now the sentence of ostracism was not a chastisement of base practices, instead it was speciously called a humbling and docking of oppressive prestige and power; but it was really a merciful exorcism of the spirit of jealous hate, which thus vented its malignant desire to injure, not in some irreparable evil, but in a mere change of residence for ten years. And when ignoble men of the baser sort came to be subjected to this penalty it ceased to be inflicted at all, and Hyperbolos was the last to be thus ostracized. It is said that Hyperbolos was ostracized for the following reason. Alkibiades and Nikias had the greatest power in the state and were at odds. Accordingly, when the people were about to exercise the ostracism, and were clearly going to vote against one or the other of these two men, they came to terms with one another, united their opposing factions, and effected the ostracism of Hyperbolos. The people were incensed at this for they felt that the institution had been insulted and abused, and so they abandoned it utterly and put an end to it. (Life of Aristeides 73-4) Ostrakon of Perikles, candidate for ostracism in the mid-5th century B.C. Max. dim.: 0.07 m. Athens, Agora Museum P 16755. Inscribed: ΠΕΡΙΚΛΕΣ ΧΣΑΝΘΙΠΠΟ, Perikles son of Xanthippos. After Kimon's ostracism, Perikles rose to power as leader of the democratic party. Elected strategos (general) year after year, he diverted the funds of the Delian League, established for the defense of Greece, to magnificent building programs in Athens, among them the rebuilding of the Acropolis. He may often have been a candidate for ostracism but was never ostracized. Ostrakon of Thucydides, ostracized in 443 B.C. Max. dim.: 0.13 m. Athens, Agora Museum P 29461. Inscribed: ΘΟΚΥΔΙΔΗΣ, Thucydides. This Thucydides, the son of Melesias, may have been the maternal grandfather of the historian Thucydides. He was opposed to Perikles and especially to his building program. His ostracism left Perikles as the uncontested political leader of the Athenian state. Useless immediately after the counting, the actual ostraka were simply discarded in the street or any convenient hole. Like most baked pottery, ostraka are virtually indestructible; excavations in Athens have produced over 11,000 examples. More than any literary text, the ostraka bring to life a sense of Athenian power politics as waged centuries ago. They preserve the names of all the well-known statesmen as well as several unknown aspirants to political power. Ostrakon of Aristeides, ostracized in 482 B.C. Max. dim.: .0125 m. Athens, Agora Museum P 9973. Inscribed: ΑΡΙΣΤΕΙΔΕΣ ΛΥΣΙΜΑΤΟ, Aristeides son of Lysimachos. Plutarch tells an anecdote about the ostracism of Aristeides: ... while the votes were being written down, an illiterate and uncouth rustic handed his piece of earthenware to Aristeides and asked him to write the name Aristeides on it. The latter was astonished and asked the man what harm Aristeides had ever done him. ""None whatever,"" was the reply, ""I do not even know the fellow, but I am sick of hearing him called 'The just' everywhere! When he heard this, Aristeides said nothing, but wrote his name on the ostrakon and handed it back. (Aristeides 7, translated by Ian Scott-Kilvert) Ostrakon of Kimon, ostracized in 461 B.C. Max. dim.: 0.106 m. Athens, Agora Museum P 18555. Inscribed: ΚΙΜΟΝ ΜΙΛΤΙΑΔΟ, Kimon son of Miltiades. Kimon, influential statesman and soldier of the 470's and 460's B.C., was the leader of an aristocratic faction, which brought him into opposition with Perikles and other democrats and eventually led to his ostracism. He was recalled before five years had elapsed. Ostrakon of Hippokrates, candidate for ostracism in the 480's B.C. Max. dim.: 0.10 m. Athens, Agora Museum P 6036. Inscribed twice ΗΙΠΠΟΚΡΑΤΕΣ ΑΛΚΜΕΟΝΙΔΟ, Hippokrates son of Alkmeonides. This Hippokrates is not otherwise known, but he must have been a member of the Alkmeonid family and, like the father of Megakles (14.1), may have had a connection to the Peisistratid tyrants.","","http://agathe.gr/democracy/practice_of_ostracism.html"
"Agora:Webpage:716df938b7d7477103017ce7676d0f82","Webpage","","AgoraPicBk 4 2004: Ostracism","Agora","","","","","","","Ostracism In addition to the legal assassination condoned in the Law against Tyranny, a less extreme method was also available for removing powerful but dangerous men from public life. This was a formal, regular vote for exile, known as ostracism. Each year the Assembly decided whether a vote of ostracism should be held. If a majority of the quorum of 6,000 citizens voted affirmatively, the day was set and at that time a large open area of the Agora was fenced off. In the enclosure were 10 entrances, one for each of the 10 tribes. By these the citizens entered, each with a potsherd (ostrakon) on which he had scratched the name of the man who seemed to him most dangerous to the state. Officials at the entrance collected the sherds and kept the citizens inside the enclosure until all had voted. The sherds were then tabulated; if more than 6,000 votes were cast, the man whose name appeared on the greatest number was sent into exile for 10 years. Such was ostracism, introduced as a safeguard against tyranny, later used as a weapon by rival statesmen, and finally abandoned in the late fifth century when it deteriorated into a political game. 21. Ostraka cast against Aristeides, Themistokles, Kimon, and Perikles, fifth century B.C. The potsherds, or ostraka, after being counted, were treated like so much waste paper. They were shoveled up and carried out to fill potholes in the roads leading out from the Agora. The big deposits of ostraka, found on the road from the southwest corner of the Agora, belong to the early years of the fifth century. Stray sherds from the whole area represent later votes of ostracism and provide the names of most of Athens’ prominent statesmen (21, 22). 22. Ostraka: “Kallixenos the traitor” and “Out with Themistokles” Themistokles son of Neokles of Phrearrioi, who was soon to become the hero of the Persian War and later to be exiled for pro-Persian sympathies, was a strong candidate for ostracism in 483/2 B.C. It was his chief opponent, Aristeides son of Lysimachos of Alopeke (nicknamed “the just”), who received the greatest number of votes that year and so was ostracized. Kimon son of Miltiades of Lakiadai was voted into exile in the late 460s probably because of his opposition to the radical democrats whom the young Perikles had recently joined. Perikles himself, about whom Thucydides says “by report it was a democracy, in fact a rule of the first citizen,” was never ostracized, but there were votes against him nonetheless. For some citizens, casting a vote was not enough. A few ostraka preserve some rather more violent sentiments. One of the votes against Themistokles adds “Out with him!” Another ostrakon, with the name of Kallixenos, who is not known to us from literary sources, designates him as a “traitor” (22).","","http://agathe.gr/democracy/ostracism.html"
"Corinth:Publication:Valavanis, Games and Sanctuaries in Ancient ... 2004","Publication","","Valavanis, Games and Sanctuaries in Ancient ... 2004","Corinth","Valavanis, P.","","","2004","","Games and Sanctuaries in Ancient Greece. Olympia, Delphi, Isthmia, Nemea, Athens","","",""
"Agora:Image:2004.01.0905","Image","","2004.01.0905 (HAT 59-237)","Agora","Peter Von Hess","Agora:Image:2004.01.0905::/Agora/2004/2004.01/2004.01.0905.tif::1535::921","","1834","Site | By Area | General Views by Year | 1930 and earlier","Hephaisteion and Acropolis. Painting by Peter von Hess.","Horizontal (normal)","",""
"Corinth:Publication:Dinsmoor, The Largest Temple in Peloponn... 1949","Publication","","Dinsmoor, The Largest Temple in Peloponn... 1949","Corinth","Dinsmoor, William Bell","","American school of classical studies at Athens","1949","","The Largest Temple in Peloponnese","104-105","",""
"Corinth:Publication:Lang, Cure and cult in ancient Corinth ... 1977","Publication","","Lang, Cure and cult in ancient Corinth ... 1977","Corinth","Lang, Mabel L.","Corinth:Image:digital 2014  11153::/Corinth/Icons/PublicationCovers/CureAndCult.jpg::200::316","American School of Classical Studies at Athens","1977","","Cure and cult in ancient Corinth : a guide to the Asklepieion","Hundreds of life-size human limbs made from terracotta, including the remains of at least 125 human hands, testify to the efficacy of the medicine practiced at the Aklepieion, on the hillside north of ancient Corinth. Made as votive gifts to thank the god for a cure, these were among many extraordinary finds made during excavations at the Temple of Asklepios and Lerna spring between 1929 and 1934. As well as providing a helpful guide to the site, this fascinating booklet also offers a unique insight into the work of physicians in the Greek world, and the types of diseases they had to contend with.","",""
"Corinth:Publication:Bookidis amp Stroud, Demeter and Persephone in Ancient ... 1987","Publication","","Bookidis & Stroud, Demeter and Persephone in Ancient ... 1987","Corinth","Bookidis, Nancy & Stroud, Ronald S.","Corinth:Image:digital 2014  11154::/Corinth/Icons/PublicationCovers/DemeterAndPersephone.jpg::200::315","American School of Classical Studies at Athens","1987","","Demeter and Persephone in Ancient Corinth","When the Roman tourist Pausanias visited Corinth around A.D. 160, he saw many shrines and buildings high up to the south of the city, on the slopes of Acrocorinth. This booklet describes excavations at one of these, the Sanctuary of Demeter and Persephone (Kore). The details of religious rites revealed are of particular interest since the cult of the two goddesses, also celebrated at Eleusis, is one of the most mysterious in antiquity, and no literary testimony exists to explain what may have happened behind the high walls. Terracotta dolls, ritual meals of pork, and miniature models of food-filled platters hint at a vigorous religious tradition associated with human and agricultural fertility.","",""