Banishment by popular vote, -- a means adopted at Athens to rid the city of a person whose talent and influence gave umbrage.

Banishment; exclusion; as, social ostracism.

the temporary banishment of a Greek citizen considered "dangerous to public welfare"; according to Aristotle, Cleisthenes promulgated the law of ostracism in 510 BCE but it was not used until 487 BCE against Hipparchus, a relative of Hippias, the tyrant of Athens; an annual vote among the Athenian assembly by a show of hands decided upon which citizen(s) would be up for ostracism by public vote; by writing the name of a person they wished to be exiled on a pottery sherd, an ostrakon, each citizen voted; any citizen receiving a minimum of 6,000 votes had to leave Athens within ten days and was in exile for ten years; ostracized citizens did not lose any property or civil rights and could be recalled by a vote of the Athenian assembly. The Ostracisms at Athens Perseus Historical Overview: Ostracism