According to the historian Plutarch, an illiterate citizen who didn't recognize Aristides approached him and asked him to write the name "Aristides" on his shard. When Aristides asked what harm the man had ever done to him, the citizen replied, "None at all, I don't even know him, but I'm just sick and tired of hearing him called 'The Just'." Aristides, without revealing his identity, quietly wrote his own name on the shard and handed it back
by Otherwise-Yard4393
5 Comments
Not gonna lie… If he did exactly that, then his reputation is fair with his acts
Gotta love the average voter.
And for context: the election was to try break a political deadlock by temporarily exiling one if the leaders of the two factions. Aristedes who advocated for a larger army vs Themistoceles who advocated for expanding the navy.
Aristedes was the one exiled and Themistoceles navy came to lead Athens into becoming a major hegemon in the region
Athens was ahead of its time, or the modern world is just as primitive as they were. People like this still exist.
The average voting citizen, an unchanging quantity.