Fifth-century BC Ostraka, from Athens Agora
Note: Ostraka were sherds of broken pots re-used as voting 'ballots' cast by the Athenian assembly, who would each choose a politician they wished to have 'ostracized', or exiled for ten years. If any one name received a majority and a total of 6,000 or more votes, that man would have to leave Athens. Above are some excavated ostraka naming prominent politicians still well-known to historians today - at the top, Aristeides, son of Lysimachus on the left, and Themistokles, of the deme Phrearios on the right. At the bottom, Kimon, son of Miltiades on the left, and Perikles, son of Xanthippos on the right.