[Agora Webpage] Birth of Democracy: Factional Politics

http://agathe.gr/democracy/factional_politics.html

Factional Politics: The Ostracism of Themistokles A group of ostraka found together in a pit on the North Slope of the Acropolis is of special interest. There were 190 ostraka, mostly the round feet of ... Factional Politics: The Ostracism of Themistokles A group of ostraka found together in a pit on the North Slope of the Acropolis is of special interest. ... Ostraka of Themistokles. The democratic voters of Classical Athens were as fickle as electorates elsewhere at other times. ... Seen in retrospect, Themistokles was as great a figure in Athenian history.

[Agora Webpage] AgoraPicBk 4 2004: Ostracism

http://agathe.gr/democracy/ostracism.html

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, ... Ostraka cast against Aristeides, Themistokles, Kimon, and Perikles, fifth century B.C. ... Ostraka: “Kallixenos the traitor” and “Out with ThemistoklesThemistokles 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. ... One of the votes against Themistokles adds “Out with him!”

[Agora Webpage] Birth of Democracy: The Athenian Navy

http://agathe.gr/democracy/the_athenian_navy.html

The Athenian Navy With thousands of kilometers of coastline and hundreds of islands, the Greek world was likely to be dominated only by a naval power. A generation after the establishment of democracy ... A generation after the establishment of democracy Athens became such a power under the influence of Themistokles. The fleet was made up of triremes, wooden warships that carried 170 rowers manning three banks of oars.

[Agora Webpage] Birth of Democracy: The Ekklesia

http://agathe.gr/democracy/the_ekklesia.html

The Ekklesia (Citizens' Assembly) All Athenian citizens had the right to attend and vote in the Ekklesia, a full popular assembly which met about every 10 days. All decrees (psephismata) were ratified ... According to Plutarch, the Thirty had a specific political reason for shifting the orientation of the seating: The Thirty afterwards turned the bema [stand for speakers] in the Pnyx, which was made to look at the sea, toward the land, because they thought that naval supremacy had been the origin of democracy but that tillers of the soil were less ill disposed toward oligarchy (Life of Themistokles 4). View of the Pnyx from the Observatory with the Speaker’s platform (bema) visible right of center.

[Agora Webpage] Overview: The Archaeological Site

http://agathe.gr/overview/the_archaeological_site.html

The Athenian Agora The Agora of Athens was the center of the ancient city: a large, open square where the citizens could assemble for a wide variety of purposes. On any given day the space might be used ... It is during this “Classical” period that the Agora and its buildings were frequented by statesmen such as Themistokles, Perikles, and Demosthenes, by the poets Aeschylos, Sophokles, Euripides, and Aristophanes, by the writers Thucydides and Herodotos, by artists such as Pheidias and Polygnotos, and by philosophers such as Sokrates, Plato, and Aristotle.

[Agora Webpage] Publications: Monographs

http://agathe.gr/publications/monographs.html

Monographs Excavations in the civic and cultural center of classical Athens began in 1931 and have continued almost without interruption to the present day. The first Athenian Agora volumes presenting ... To these pieces are appended the 191 ostraka, almost all nominating Themistokles, found by Oscar Broneer in a well on the North Slope of the Acropolis.