Look at the word ostracize in the passage below. In the late 1990 s, a deposit of more than 150 broken pottery pieces was uncovered during an archeological excavation in Athens, Greece. The shards had been used as ballots in a special kind of election conducted in Athens during the fifth 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 six thousand votes was forced to leave the city within ten days and was not permitted to return for ten years. Once their period of exile ended, these banished politicians could, and sometimes did, return to the city. The practice lasted about seventy years, ending after 417 BCE. What is the meaning of ostracize as used in the passage?
