> In Ancient Greece, an ostracophoria was an election to determine who wouldbecome which of the following?Considering the possible answers of Heir apparent, Ostracized, Treasurer, andQueen, the answer is: ostracized. Photo courtesy: Marsyas, CC BY-SA 2.5, WikimediaIn the 5th Century BCE,Athenians would vote for someone to be ostracized, or exiled. The person chosenwould have 10 days to prepare, and then they had to leave, never to return forat least 10 years.Rather than instate new leaders (as a traditional vote accomplishes), Athenians' ostracophoria elections forcefully removed transgressive community members. Seenas a sort of negative popularity test, citizens of Athens would cast their votesfor the member of the community to which they designated the most harm. If thatperson received enough votes, they would be banished for 10 years. Most of the time, ostracophoria elections occurred when someone had committed awrong that was not criminally triable. This was a way for the community toprevent the rise of tyrannical leaders, or right the wrong from a specificincident. Ostracophoria elections were highly formalized, and needed to receivea vote in favor for it to even occur. After everyone cast their ballots, thecandidate needed to receive at least 6,000 votes in order to be ostracized. Ostracism was also a way to keep the ruling class in power. While ostracophoriaelections took place largely in the heyday of Athenian democracy, it was stilllargely controlled by a much smaller, elite group of men. Most of the time,those nominated to be ostracized were rival political opponents. Learn more about the history and practice of the ostracophoria elections here[https://www.nationalgeographic.org/media/ostracism-ancient-greece/].