Xanthippe

Xanthippe, Ξανθίππη

Xanthippe (Greek: Ξανθίππη) was the wife of Socrates and mother of their three sons Lamprocles,Sophroniscus, and Menexenus. There are far more stories about her than there are facts. She was likely much younger than the philosopher, perhaps by as much as forty years.

Name

Xanthippe means "blonde horse", from the Greek ξανθός "xanthos" (blonde) and ‘ιππος "hippos" (horse). Hers is one of many Greek personal names with a horse theme (cf. Philippos: "horse lover"; Hippocrates: "horse tamer" etc). The "hippos" in an ancient Greek name often suggested aristocratic heritage. One additional reason for thinking Xanthippe's family was socially prominent was that her eldest son was named Lamprocles instead of "Sophroniscus" (after Socrates' father). The ancient Greek custom was to name one's first child after the more illustrious of the two grandfathers. Xanthippe's father is believed to have been named Lamprocles. Since he was even more well-established in Athenian aristocracy than was Socrates' father, his name would have been the preferred choice for the name of the first-born son.

Character

Plato's portrayal of Xanthippe (in his Phaedo) suggests that she was nothing less than a devoted wife and mother (60a-b, 116b; she is mentioned nowhere else in Plato). Xenophon, in his Memorabilia, portrays her in much the same light, though he does make Lamprocles complain of her harshness (2.2.7-9); it could be argued that this is fairly typical of an adolescent's views of a strict parent. It is only in Xenophon's Symposium where we have Socrates agree that she is (in Antisthenes' words) "the hardest to get along with of all the women there are" (2.10). Nevertheless, Socrates adds that he chose her precisely because of her argumentative spirit:

   It is the example of the rider who wishes to become an expert horseman: "None of your soft-mouthed, docile animals for me," he says; "the horse for me to own must show some spirit" in the belief, no doubt, if he can manage such an animal, it will be easy enough to deal with every other horse besides. And that is just my case. I wish to deal with human beings, to associate with man in general; hence my choice of wife. I know full well, if I can tolerate her spirit, I can with ease attach myself to every human being else. (Symposium 17-19 [= 2.10])

Perhaps this picture of Xanthippe originated with the historical Antisthenes, one of Socrates' pupils, since Xenophon initially puts this view into his mouth. Aelian also depicts her as a jealous shrew in his description of an episode in which she tramples underfoot a large and beautiful cake sent to Socrates by Alcibiades. Diogenes Laertius (Lives 2.36-37) tells of other stories involving Xanthippe's supposed abusiveness, but he does not cite any source for them.

It seems that Xenophon's portrayal of her in his Symposium has been the most influential (Diogenes Laertius, for example, seems to quote (2.37) the Symposium passage, though he does not mention Xenophon by name). For the term "Xanthippe" has now come to mean any nagging scolding person, especially a shrewish wife.

Later writers, such as Diogenes Laertius (Lives 2.26), who cite Aristotle as the earliest source, say that Socrates had a second wife called Myrto. Plutarch tells of a similar story, reporting that it comes from a work entitled On Good Birth, but he expresses doubt as to whether it was written by Aristotle. In Plutarch's version of the story, Socrates, who was already married, attended to Myrto's financial concerns when she became a widow; this does not entail marriage. We have no more reliable evidence on this issue.