“OSTRACİSM”, ANTİK ATİNA’DA HALKIN DEMOKRASİYİ TİRANLARDAN KORUMA YÖNTEMİ

Year 2023, , 653 - 662, 04.04.2023

Uğur Oral

https://doi.org/10.17755/esosder.1209928

Abstract

Demokrasinin doğduğu antik Atina’da, Kleisthenes döneminde, MÖ 487-416 arasında, demokrasi rejiminin korunması için, ostracism adı verilen bir tür sürgün sistemi uygulanmaya başlanmıştı. Bu uygulama tiranların keyfi ve baskıcı rejimlerine tepki gösteren Atinalıların demokratik yönetime sahip çıkma refleksiydi aslında. Atinalılar tirana dönüşmesinden ve güç kullanarak, zorla demokrasiyi ortadan kaldırmasından endişe duyduğu yöneticilerin isimlerini ostrakon adı verilen, oy pusulası işlevi gören çanak çömlek parçalarına yazıyorlardı. Bu şekilde gerçekleştirilen oylamanın sonucunda en çok ismi yazılan kişi on yıl süreliğine Atina dışına sürgüne gönderiyordu. Sürgüne yollanan kişinin statüsü değişmiyordu. Mal varlığına da el konmuyordu. Ostracism ile Atina dışına gönderilen kişi, on yıllık sürgünün ardından Atina'ya geri dönüyor, önceki unvan ve avantajlarıyla yaşamına devam ediyordu.
Ostracism ilk uygulanmaya başlandığında demokrasinin sigortası, sistemin garantisi gibi görülse de sonradan gerçek amacından uzaklaşmıştır. Gücünü arttırmak isteyen bazı Atinalı yöneticilerin rakiplerini zayıflatmak ya da ortadan kaldırmak için, halkın görüşlerini etkileyerek, ostracismi adeta bir silah gibi kullandığı da görülmüştür. Atinalı yöneticilerden Hemistokles, Kimon ve Alkibiades gibi isimler Atina’nın ostracism uygulamasıyla sürgüne gönderilmiş ünlü yöneticilerindendir. İlk olarak Hipparchus’un 10 yıllığına Atina dışına sürgün edilmesiyle başlayan ostracism son olarak MÖ 417 yılında Hyperbolos için uygulanmış ve sonra bu uygulama tarihe karışmıştır.

Keywords

Atina demokrasisi, demokrasi, ostracism, sürgün, Athenian democracy, democracy, exile

“OSTRACISM”, THE PEOPLE’S WAY OF PROTECTING DEMOCRACY FROM TYRANTS IN ANCIENT ATHENS

Abstract

In ancient Athens, where democracy was born, during the reign of Cleisthenes, between 487 and 416 BC, a kind of exile system called ostracism was introduced to protect democratic rule. This practice was actually a reflex of the Athenians, who were reacting to the arbitrary and oppressive regimes of the Tyrants, to protect the democratic government. Athenians wrote the names of rulers, who they feared would turn into tyrants and destroy democracy by force, on pieces of pottery called ostrakon, which served as ballot papers. As a result of the voting carried out in this way, the person whose name was written the most was exiled outside Athens for ten years. The status of the exiled person did not change. His property was also not confiscated. The person who was sent out of Athens with ostracism was returning to Athens after ten years of exile, continuing his life with his previous title and advantages.
Although ostracism was seen as the insurance of democracy and the guarantee of the system when it was first implemented, it later moved away from its real purpose. It is also seen that some Athenian rulers, who wanted to increase their power, used ostracism as a weapon by influencing the views of the people to weaken or eliminate their rivals. Hemistocles, Kimon, and Alcibiades were also among the famous rulers of Athens exiled by the practice of ostracism. Ostracism, which first started with the exile of Hipparchus from Athens for 10 years, was finally applied to Hyperbolos in 417 BC, and then this practice disappeared into history.

Keywords

Athenian democracy, democracy, ostracism, exile

References

• Adamidis, V. (2017). Solon the lawgiver: inequality of resources and equality before the law.
• Aktan, C. C., (2021), Tiran’lara Ya Sürgün, Ya Ölüm, Antik Atina’da Tiranlık ve Lider Despotizmi’nden Kurtuluş Yolu: Siyasi Sürgün (Ostrasizm / Ostracism) ve Tiran Katli (Tiranside), Sosyal ve Beşeri Bilimler Dergisi, 13 (2): 259-300
• Andrewes, A. (1956) The Greek Tyrants, Hutchinson's University Library, 7
• Anıl, Y.Ş, (2006), Antik Çağda Demokrasinin Doğuşu, Kastaş Yayınevi, İstanbul, s. 93
• Arblester, A (1999). Demokrasi, Doruk Yayınları
• Aristotle, F. G. (1891). Athenaion Politeia, Aristotle on the Constitution of Athens, Seely and Co. Limited, London, 1891
• Azoulay, V. (2014) Pericles of Athens, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 2014, (translated by Janet Lloyd, with a foreword by Paul Cartledge), 312 p.
• Barbato, M. (2021). ‘For themistocles of phrearrhioi, on account of honour’: Ostracism, honour and the nature of athenian politics. The Classical Quarterly, 71(2), 500-519.
• Cartwright, M. (2013). Greek Society. Retrieved from Ancient History Encyclopedia website: http://www.ancient.eu/article/483
• Carugati, F., Hadfield, G. K., & Weingast, B. R. (2015). Building legal order in ancient Athens. Journal of Legal Analysis, 7(2), 291-324.
• De Coulanges, N. D. F. (2012). The ancient city: A study of the religion, laws, and İnstitutions of Greece and Rome. Courier Corporation.
• Doenges, N. A. (1996). Ostracism and the" boulai" of Kleisthenes. Historia: Zeitschrift fur AlteGeschichte, 387-404.
• Forsdyke, S. (2000). Exile, ostracism and the Athenian democracy. Classical Antiquity, 19(2), 232-263.
• Freeman, C (2003). Mısır, Yunan ve Roma, (Çev:Suat Kemal Angı), Dost Kitabevi, 1. Baskı,Ankara, (s.236)
• Friedell, E (1999), Antik Yunan'ın Kültür Tarihi, (Çev: Necati Akça), Dost Kitabevi, 1. Baskı, Ankara, s.54, 179 Gannon, M. (2020), Ancient Greeks Voted to Kick Politicians Out of Athens if Enough PeopleDidn’t Like Them, Smithsonianmagasine, retreived from 13 October 2022 from https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/ancient-athenians-voted-kick-politicians-out-if-enough-people-didnt-them-180976138/
• Grant, M. (2012). The rise of the Greeks. Weidenfeld & Nicolson.
• Gouschin, V. (2009). Athenian ostracism and ostraka: some historical and statistica observations. In: Mitchell, L./Rubinstein, L.(eds.) Greek History and Epigraphy. Essays in honour of P. J. Rhodes, 225–250. Swansea: Classical Press of Wales
• Hanssen, F. A., & Fleck, R. K. (2011). How Tyranny Paved the Way to Wealth and Democracy: The Democratic Transition in Ancient Greece. Available at SSRN 1762249.
• Hatzis, A. N. (2016). The Illiberal Democracy of Ancient Athens. Available at SSRN 2810070.
• Karamanoğlu, O. K., (2007) Ansiklopedik “İzm”ler Sözlüğü, Anahtar Kitaplar, 1. Basım, s. 224
• Kosmin, P. J. (2015). A phenomenology of democracy: Ostracism as political ritual. Classical Antiquity, 34(1), 121-162
• Kundakçı, D. (2018). "Atina Demokrasisi’nin Zayıf Karnı: Leitourgiai, Sykophantes ve Ostracism Uygulamaları, FLSF Felsefe ve Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi 13(26), 241-266
• Kutlu, A. 2019. Antik ve Modern Demokraside Siyasetin Kişiselleşmesi: Devlet Adamı Figürü, (Doktora Tezi). AÜ-SBE. Siyaset Bilimi ve Kamu Yönetimi Anabilim Dalı.
• Lyttkens, C. H. (2010). Institutions, taxation, and market relationships in ancient Athens. Journal of Institutional Economics, 6(4), 505-527.
• Maier-Rigaud, F. P., Martinsson, P., & Staffiero, G. (2010). Ostracism and the provision of a public good: experimental evidence. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 73(3), 387-395.
• Malkopoulou, A. (2017). Ostracism and democratic self-defense in Athens, Constellations, 24(4), 623-636.
• Maltomini, F. (2014), Greek Ostraka: an Overview, Manuscript Cultures 5 , pp. 33-41
• Mitchell, L. (2019). Political thinking on kingship in democratic Athens. Polis: The Journal for Ancient Greek and Roman Political Thought, 36(3), 442-465.
• Ober, J. (2003). Conditions for Athenian democracy. The making and unmaking of democracy:Lessons from history and world politics, 2-22.
• Ober, J. (2007). The original meaning of'democracy': capacity to do things, not majority rule.Princeton/Stanford Working Papers in Classics Paper, (090704).
• Ober, J. (2008). What the ancient Greeks can tell us about democracy. Annu. Rev. Polit, Sci., 11,67-91.
• Pomeroy, S. B., Burstein, S. M., Donlan, W., Roberts, J. T., Tandy, D. W., & Tsouvala, G. (2020). A brief history of ancient Greece: Politics, society, and culture. Oxford University Press.
• Raaflaub, K. A., Ober, J., & Wallace, R. (2008). Origins of democracy in ancient Greece. Univ.of California Press.
• Raubitschek, A. E. (1951). The origin of ostracism. American Journal of Archaeology, 55(3), 221-229.
• Sinclair, R. K. (1991). Democracy and participation in Athens. Cambridge University Press.
• Şenel, A. 1970. Eski Yunanda Eşitlik ve Eşitsizlik Üstüne. Ankara: Ankara Üniversitesi SiyasalBilgiler Fakültesi Yayınları.
• Tridimas, G. (2016). Conflict, democracy and voter choice: A public choice analysis of the Athenian ostracism. Public Choice, 169(1-2), 137-159.
• Worthington, I. (1981). The pisistratid tyranny at Athens (Doctoral dissertation, Durham University).
• Zouboulakis, M. S. (2014). Greece: Ancient Greece.