http://agathe.gr/democracy/practice_of_ostracism.html
Ostracism Soon after their victory over the Persians at the battle of Marathon in 490 B.C., the Athenians began the practice of ostracism, a form of election designed to curb the power of any rising tyrant ... Inscribed: ΑΡΙΣΤΕΙΔΕΣ ΛΥΣΙΜΑΤΟ, Aristeides son of Lysimachos. Plutarch tells an anecdote about the ostracism of Aristeides: ... while the votes were being written down, an illiterate and uncouth rustic handed his piece of earthenware to Aristeides and asked him to write the name Aristeides on it.