Сократтың әйелі Ксантиппа

Ancient Athenian, wife of Socrates
Socrates' wife

Xanthippe (/z//æ//n/'/θ//ɪ//p//i///; , , ; 5th–4th century BCE) was an ancient Athenian, the wife of Socrates and mother of their three sons: Lamprocles, Sophroniscus, and Menexenus. She was likely much younger than Socrates, perhaps by as much as 40 years.

Xanthippe means "yellow horse", from ξανθός xanthos "blond" and ἵππος hippos "horse". Hers is one of many Greek personal names with a horse theme (cf. Philippos "Friend of Horses", 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 Sophroniscus: 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. If 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.

Plato's portrayal of Xanthippe in the Phaedo suggests that she was a devoted wife and mother; this is the sole mention of her in Plato's works. Xenophon, in his Memorabilia, portrays her in much the same light, although he does make Lamprocles complain of her harshness. It is only in Xenophon's Symposium where Socrates agrees that she is (in Antisthenes' words) "the hardest to get along with of all the women there are." 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. 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 Laërtius tells of other stories involving Xanthippe's supposed bad attitude. It seems that Xenophon's portrayal of her in his Symposium has been the most influential: Diogenes Laërtius, for example, seems to quote the Symposium passage, though he does not mention Xenophon by name, In Plutarch's version of the story, Socrates, who was already married, merely attended to Myrto's financial concerns when she became a widow, which does not entail marriage; there is no other evidence on the matter. A different account of Xanthippe and Myrto is given in Aristoxenus's Life of Socrates written in the latter part of the fourth century BC that Aristoxenus asserts is based on first person accounts by his father. This claims that Myrto was his legitimate wife and Xanthippe his mistress, whose child became legitimate. An unconfirmed anecdote purports that Xanthippe was once so enraged with her husband that she took a chamber pot and poured it out over Socrates' head, which – according to the tale  – the philosopher accepted with the allegory: "After thunder comes the rain." The widely cited quote from Socrates about Xanthippe, "By all means, marry. If you will get for yourself a good wife, you will be happy forever after; and if by chance you will get a common scold like my Xanthippe — why then you will become a philosopher." is misattributed.

In the Caius children's book trilogy by Henry Winterfeld, a Greek scholar and teacher by the name of Xanthos is nicknamed "Xanthippus" (after Xanthippe) by his students because of his very demanding and critical conduct. Xanthippe has a fairly important role in Maxwell Anderson's 1951 play Barefoot in Athens. In the 1966 Hallmark Hall of Fame television production, she was played by Geraldine Page opposite Peter Ustinov as Socrates. In Cynthia Ozick's 1997 novel, The Puttermesser Papers, Ruth Puttermesser creates a golem who insists on being called Xanthippe. A fictional account of Xanthippe's relationship with her husband is presented in the play Xanthippe by the British author and playwright Deborah Freeman. Xanthippe was first produced at the Brockley Jack Theatre, London, in 1999. Xanthippe plays a minor role in the 2018 videogame Assassin's Creed: Odyssey, in which Socrates states that her argumentative nature is what attracted him to her, rather than her looks. In the television sitcom, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Jacqueline White's stepdaughter is called Xanthippe Voorhees.

Asteroid 156 Xanthippe is named in her honour. In 1995, P. Naskrecki and R. K. Colwell gave the patronym Xanthippe to a genus of flower mite that inhabits flowers of palms of the genus Socratea and is probably phoretic on the beetles that pollinate the palm. A species of African white toothed shrew was described by Wilfred Hudson Osgood in 1910 as Crocidura xantippe, common name "Xanthippe's shrew."