Xanthippe – Good Wife of Socrates

Authors

  • Anna Marchewka Uniwersytet Gdański, Katedra Filologii Klasycznej, ul. Wita Stwosza 55, 80-308 Gdańsk

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/1733-0319.21.05

Keywords:

wife of Socrates, Plato, Xenophon, letter from Pseudo-Xenophon

Abstract

After the death of Socrates, anecdotes and distorted stories about the philosopher’s family life and the unbearable character of his wife, Xanthippe, circulated in the general quasi literary circle. These stories were willingly read in subsequent epochs. Eventually, they preserved the model of the hellcat wife in the shape of Xanthippe, to which we still eagerly refer to. But did Socrates’ wife really deserve such a bad opinion? Is it possible for such a rating to be given by the desultory information we owe to Plato (Phaed. 60a) and Xenophon (Mem. II 2, Conv. II 10)? When attempt­ing to defend the Xanthippe, an important source turned out to be a letter from Pseudo-Xenophon (vel Pseudo-Aeschines), which allowed us to look at the philosopher’s wife as his pupil, leading life according to Socrates’ teachings and surrounded by the care of his friends (Epist. XXI, Hercher 1873: 624).

Author Biography

  • Anna Marchewka, Uniwersytet Gdański, Katedra Filologii Klasycznej, ul. Wita Stwosza 55, 80-308 Gdańsk

    She is classical philologist, Hellenist; since 1993 associated with the Department of Classical Philology at University of Gdansk; associate professor (2013); the head of Department of Classical Philology (2015). Her research focuses on the Greek literature of the archaic and classical period, above all on the Homeric epics, on the Histories of Herodotus, and on the works of Xenophon. Selected publications: Homerycki język Herodota (Homeric Language of Herodotus), Gdańsk 2002; Słowo i gest. Herodotowa sztuka portretowania (Word and Gesture. Herodotus’ Art of Portrayal), Gdańsk 2010. Socratic Laughter in the Xenophon’s „Cyropaedia”. In: B. Burliga (ed.) Xenophon: Greece, Persia, and Beyond, Gdańsk 2011. Portret Herodota w traktacie De Herodoti „Malignitate” Plutarcha z Cheronei (Portrait of Herodotus in the treatise De Herodoti „Malignitate”of Plutarch of Cheronea, „Argument” 7/2, 2017.

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Published

2018-12-30

Issue

No. 21 (2018)

Section

Articles

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

Marchewka, Anna. 2018. “Xanthippe – Good Wife of Socrates”. Collectanea Philologica, no. 21 (December): 75-86. https://doi.org/10.18778/1733-0319.21.05.
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