Ancient Athenians literally invented the concept of a democratic vote, but they frequently used it to exile their most annoying politicians from the city for a decade!

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Ancient Athenians literally invented the concept of a democratic vote, but they frequently used it to exile their most annoying politicians from the city for a decade! Once a year, citizens could scratch a name onto a broken piece of pottery, called an ostrakon, and if a politician received enough votes, they were forcefully kicked out of Athens without any trial. This process of ostracism was not a criminal punishment, but rather a preemptive popularity contest designed to remove arrogant guys who were getting a little too big for their togas. Imagine how incredibly peaceful modern politics would be if we could still just take a collective vote to legally banish our most obnoxious leaders to a remote island for ten years. The Greeks understood that sometimes democracy just means legally bullying one specific guy until he leaves town!