Ostracism was a unique type of voting intended as a means of protecting the city against aspirants to despotic power. The result of the ostracism vote was valid only if there was a quorum of 6000 citizens present. Each voter scratched or painted on a potsherd the name of the man he thought was undesirable as seen here. The “candidate” with the greatest number of votes against him was obliged to leave Athens in exile for ten years. This was yet another protection against tyranny employed by the ancient Athenians.