Ostracon
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A piece of pottery or stone, usually broken off from a vase or other earthenware vessel, especially one used to cast a vote during the Ancient Greek process of ostracism.
"The process in this condemnation was thus : the people being assembled, every man took a tile called ostrakon and carried it to a certain part of the market place, surrounded by wooden rails for that purpose, in which were ten gates for the ten tribes to enter distinctly : in this place the tiles were deposited by each person, and numbered in gross by the archons."
Example
More examples"The process in this condemnation was thus : the people being assembled, every man took a tile called ostrakon and carried it to a certain part of the market place, surrounded by wooden rails for that purpose, in which were ten gates for the ten tribes to enter distinctly : in this place the tiles were deposited by each person, and numbered in gross by the archons."
Etymology
Borrowed from Ancient Greek ὄστρακον (óstrakon).