Why Athens Exiled Aristides the Just: When Honesty Becomes an Irritation

Aristides, the Athenian general known as “the Just”, was admired even by many who disagreed with him. Yet in 482 BC, Athens voted to exile him for 10 years through its legal ostracism process. According to Plutarch, an illiterate farmer asked a stranger to write Aristides’ name on his voting sherd. The stranger was Aristides himself. When Aristides asked what wrong he had done, the man said he had done none. He was simply tired of hearing Aristides called “the Just”. Aristides wrote his own name and handed the sherd back without a word. It raises an uncomfortable question: have we seen people pushed aside not for stealing, incompetence or a bad decision, but because others became tired of them being seen as the upright person in the room? What should an honest person do in that situation: stay quiet, become less visible, or accept the backlash when it comes?

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