Rival Factions Block Each Other, Target Hyperbolus Instead
In 417 BCE, Nicias and Alcibiades, usually at odds, united to steer ostracism toward Hyperbolus. Plutarch recounts the maneuver—and even an alternative tradition—in a moment that turned a safeguard into a partisan trick, souring Athenians on the practice [2][3][5].
What Happened
By 417 BCE, Athens’s politics had polarized around two figures: Nicias, the cautious aristocrat, and Alcibiades, the brilliant provocateur. Each feared the shard. Each cultivated allies. When an ostracism beckoned, both campaigned to send the other away. Then, as Plutarch tells it, something unusual happened: they combined their factions and redirected the vote at Hyperbolus, a demagogue of low standing [2][5].
The day itself followed the usual form. A preliminary vote on the Pnyx had authorized the act. Citizens gathered in the Agora’s fenced precinct under the Stoa of Attalos, red-brown shards in hand. Bronze flashed on officials; the Acropolis glowed pale; a scarlet market awning snapped in the wind. Ostraka clinked as they fell into baskets; the murmur of argument tangled with salesmen’s cries [2][15].
Plutarch says simply that “Alcibiades and Nicias… united their opposing factions, and effected the ostracism of Hyperbolus.” He even notes an alternative tradition—Theophrastus naming Phaeax as the rival—not to overturn his version but to show how the story traveled. Thucydides adds a cutting gloss, calling Hyperbolus “a rascal and a disgrace to the city,” and crucially, ostracized “not from fear of his influence or position,” but because of his character [2][3][5].
The line matters. Ostracism had been designed to remove men too prominent for comfort. Here it felled a man unworthy of the tool’s seriousness. The coordination between Nicias and Alcibiades—turning a safety valve into a calculated dodge—pushed the ritual past its moral warranty. The crowd sensed it. The crier’s proclamation rang flat.
The Kerameikos road bore Hyperbolus out. His property remained his; his citizenship stood; the law’s mildness persisted. But the city’s patience did not. The sound of ostraka sweeping into pits outside the gate—so often the close of a sober ritual—felt, this time, like the end of belief. The weapon had been gamed. The demos would soon refuse to pick it up again [2][3][5][15].
Why This Matters
The Nicias–Alcibiades maneuver reframed ostracism from preventive check to partisan ploy. By coordinating to target Hyperbolus, they protected themselves and emptied the ritual of its original rationale—guarding against dominating figures. Thucydides’s scorn underlines the mismatch between tool and target [2][3][5].
This episode exemplifies the theme of elite coordination and manipulation at its most corrosive. Earlier coordination simply amplified mass judgment; here, it diverted it. The 6,000-vote quorum still legitimized the outcome in form, but the substance felt wrong, triggering public disgust that outlived the exile [2][15].
In the broader arc, the affair set up ostracism’s abandonment. After Hyperbolus, Athenians turned to legal instruments—the graphe paranomon foremost—to police proposals and penalize politicians with arguments and fines rather than ritual exile. The shard gave way to the statute [2][15][17].
For historians, the episode is a cautionary tale about institutional drift: how tools designed for one purpose can be repurposed until they discredit themselves, and how public legitimacy can evaporate even when procedures are followed [5][10][15].
Event in Context
See what happened before and after this event in the timeline
People Involved
Key figures who played a role in Rival Factions Block Each Other, Target Hyperbolus Instead
Ask About This Event
Have questions about Rival Factions Block Each Other, Target Hyperbolus Instead? Get AI-powered insights based on the event details.