Poneroi vs. Chrestoi : The Ostracism of Hyperbolos and the Struggle for Hegemony in Athens after the Death of Perikles, Part I

This paper is divided into two parts. Part I explains the last ostrakophoria as a struggle between leaders who enjoy cultural validation, labeled chrêstoi ("good," "noble," "useful," "genuine"), and those who lack such legitimation, labeled ponêroi ("bad," 'vile," "useless," "inauthentic"). The ostrakophoria took place in 415 and its catalyst was Alkibiades' Olympic victory in 416, which prompted Hyperbolos, the quintessential ponêros, to move an ostrakophoria as "protector/leader of the people" to ostracize a symbolic tyrant, to cast suspicion upon chrêstoi as inimical to the demos, and to legitimate his own leadership and that of his faction. This ostrakophoria pit ponêroi against chrêstoi in the formers' bid to become a hegemonic class in Athenian society. Part II will appear in TAPA 134.2.