In the passage, "ostracize" refers to the practice of exiling or banishing a leader from the city of Athens for a specified period (10 years) as a means of protecting democracy. Citizens would vote using pottery shards to determine which leader they believed had become too powerful or dangerous, and if a leader received enough votes (more than 6000), they would be forced to leave the city. Thus, in this context, to ostracize someone means to exclude them from the community through formal exile.
Look at the word ostracize in the passage below. In the late 1990s, a deposit of more than 150 broken pottery pieces was uncovered during an archaeological excavation in Athens, Greece. The shards had been used as ballots in a special kind of election conducted in Athens during the 5th century BCE. When elections occurred - once a year, at most - citizens could vote to ostracize a leader whom they believed had become too powerful or potentially dangerous to democracy. Anyone receiving more than 6000 votes was forced to leave the city within 10 days and was not permitted to return for 10 years. Once their period of exile ended, these banished politicians could, and sometimes did, return to the city. The practice lasted about 70 years, ending after 417 BCE. What is the meaning of ostracize as used in the passage?
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