Xanthippe - Xanthippe (English spelling)

Date of birth and death unknown. Wife of Socrates. She seems to have married Socrates quite late in life, and when he was executed (399 BC), his two youngest sons, Sophroniscus and Menexenus, were still children. There is also a story that she was a second wife, but this is not certain. As a wife, she did not understand her husband's words and actions at all, and was always foul-mouthed, deriding and insulting him, and has been famous since ancient times as a representative of bad wives. One time, she yelled at Socrates and splashed water on him, to which Socrates responded, "As I said, when Xanthippe roars, it's a thunderstorm." However, it is said that there has been a lot of exaggeration in later generations about her bad wife status, and there is little certainty.

[Hidenobu Mashita]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

生没年不詳。ソクラテスの妻。かなり晩年のソクラテスと結婚したらしく、彼が刑死したとき（前399）、下の2人の息子ソプロニスコスとメネクセノスはまだ子供であった。彼女は後妻であったとの伝えもあるがさだかでない。妻として、彼女は夫の言動をまったく理解せず、つねに口汚く夫を軽蔑(けいべつ)、ののしっており、古来、悪妻の代表として有名である。あるとき、彼女がソクラテスをどなりつけ水をぶっかけると、ソクラテスは「そら私のいったとおりクサンティッペがごろごろいうとあとは夕立だ」とすましていたという。しかし、彼女の悪妻ぶりについては後世の誇張が多分に込められており、確実なものはほとんどないといわれている。

［真下英信］

出典　小学館　日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)について　情報 | 凡例