Xanthippe - the wife of Socrates

She is believed to have been much younger than the philosopher, perhaps by as much as forty years.

She was famed for her sharp tongue and is said to have been the only person to ever have beaten Socrates in a discussion.

 

After one particular quarrel, she was supposed to have emptied a chamber pot on Socrates's head, causing him to remark,

"After thunder there generally falls rain."

 

Xanthippe means "yellow horse", from the Greek "xanthos" (yellow) and "hippos" (horse).

 Her name now means any nagging scolding person, especially a shrewish wife.

 

 According to some sources,

Socrates later remarried.

Socrates' saying  "Marry or marry not, in any case you'll regret it"

was supposedly in contemplation of his wife.

 

Of Socrates' wife, Xanthippe, we know relatively little.

She was reported to have been bad tempered though such reports, quite likely, are exaggerated.

Also, the marriage may well have been his second. His three sons, oldest to youngest, were Lamprocles, Sophroniscus (named for Socrates' father), and Menexenus.

Gender roles of the time were so defined that the husband was responsible for providing financially for the family while the wife was in charge of the household.

Socrates' scorn for money and subsequent poverty, therefore, made him a difficult husband (instead of bringing home the bacon he was debating in the marketplace)!

Can we blame Xanthippe if she was a bit bad tempered?

Even after years of self imposed poverty, however, there are accounts that she loved her husband at the time of his death.

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