When the Athenian constitution was written safeguards were built into the system, one of which was ostracism. It was useful for a while against unwise or too ambitious polititians. If the Assembly decided to carry out an ostracism vote in any year, a special date was set which the citizens would write on a broken piece of pottery (called ostracon, which is where the word ostracism came from) the name of the politician they most disliked. Anyone who got a majority vote, which had to be more than 6,000 votes, was exiled for ten years. The exile was an honorary exile where they would not lose any of their property and it would be without social disgrace. When the politician was ostracised he had to settle his private affairs in the courts and leave the polis within ten days. Ostracism at first was not used very much, but later people began to use it to get rid of their enemies. Many leaders were ostracised some of whom were Themistocles and Cimon.