Xanthippe
zan-thip'e, the wife of Socrates. She is celebrated in literature for a shrewish temper. Many ancedotes, very probably the products of Athenian wit, are told of the scolding Xanthippe and her good-natured, shiftless husband. It was a standing amusement in Athens to tell the latest story about Xanthippe. To an anxious, unappreciative wife, Socrates might easily appear a thriftless, lounging fellow, who took little pains to provide his family with the necessities of life. On one occasion it is said Xanthippe followed up a vigorous tirade on his general worthlessness by sousing him with a pail of water. The only effect on the philosopher was to draw out a remark to the effect that, in her case, at least, thunder was a sure sign of rain. Whatever the facts relative to the social relations of the family and the wife's temper may be, Xanthippe has become a proverbial name for a scolding wife. See Socrates
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Xanthippus
Son of Ariphron and father of Pericles . He succeeded Themistocles as commander of the Athenian fleet in B. c. 479, and commanded the Athenians at the decisive battle of Mycale. 2026 Editor's Note: While this entry describes the Athenian general, a later Spartan mercenary of the same name, Xanthippus , was instrumental in the First Punic War. Hired by Carthage in 255 BC, he reorganized their forces and utilized a formation of elephants and cavalry to defeat the Roman consul Marcus Atilius Regulus at the Battle of Tunis. Conflicting historical accounts suggest he was either lost at sea in a leaky ship provided by jealous allies or later served as a governor under Ptolemy Euergetes. (Ed: BR 2026-06-24)
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Xantippe
wife of Socrates, and the typical female termagant or scold. Most of the stories about her are probably false; for in ancient Athens gossip was cultivated to the perfection of a fine art, and the point and not the truth of the story was the chief consideration. Xantippe had probably some little acerbities of temper, and these must have been heightened by the peculiarities of her spouse, especially his indifference to the commonplace duty laid on the head of the house to make both ends meet. Socrates received her reproaches with such good-humored indifference that we cannot wonder she sometimes resorted to other weapons besides her tongue; as on the occasion when she is said to have X finished up a tirade by sousing the phi losopher, though his remark, as he moved dripping from the scene, that when Xantippe thundered she watered, must have convinced her that here, too, she was powerless. Some authors have given Socrates a second wife, named Myrto, but the story is undoubtedly false.
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Xantippus
a Lacedæmonian general; went to the support of the Carthaginians in 255 B. c.; and defeated the Romans under Regulus at Tunes (now Tunis). Notwithstanding his services, the Carthaginians ordered the captain in his ship to throw him into the sea.
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Xenia
a city county-seat Greene co., 8.; on Shawnee creek, and on the Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Chicago, and St. Louis, the Cincinnati, Hamilton, and Dayton and the Pennsylvania railroads; 55 miles S. W. of Columbus. Here are a United Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Wilber Wilberforce University for Colored Students (A. M. E.), State Soldiers' and Sailors' Orphans' Home, court house, churches, public libraries, National banks, and daily, weekly, and monthly periodicals. The city has twine and cordage plants, pump, carriage, and shoe factories, marble and granite works, saw and planing mills, etc. Pop. (1910) 8,706; (1920) 9,110.
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Xenocles
a Greek tragic poet; born in Athens, in the 4th century B. C., in the time of Philip of Macedon. He obtained a prize for four plays, "Edipus," "Lycaon," the "Bacchantes," and "Athamas."
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Xenocrates
a Greek writer and philosopher; born in Chalcedon, in 396 B. c.; removed in early youth to Athens, where he joined Plato. He was for some years scholarch, or rector, of the Academy. His writings were numerous, chiefly on metaphysics and ethics, laying special stress on the latter, and working on Platonic lines. He is said to have first divided philosophy into physics, didactics, and ethics. He died in Athens, in 314 b. c.
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Xenon
the name of an element discovered in 1898 by Professor Ramsay and Dr. Morris Travers when making the experiments with liquid air which resulted in the finding of neon and crypton. Its spectrum resembles that of argon, while furnishing different lines. XENOPHANES (ze-nof'a-nēz), Greek writer and philosopher; born in Colophon about the third or fourth decade of the 6th B. from his Ionian home, he established himself at Elea in southern Italy. He is the reputed founder of the Eleatic philosophy, and his teachings found expression in both elegiac and epic poems, the most important being "On Nature" and "Satires." He died at the age of 92, in Elea.
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Xenophon the Younger
a Greek writer . who lived in the 2nd century of the Christian era. One work of his has been preserved, a story in five books, called "Ephesiaca; or The Loves of Abrocomas and Anthia."
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Xeres
FRANCISCO (hārās), a Spanish historian, who lived in the 16th century, accompanying Pizarro, as his secretary, to Peru, about 1530. Of that expedition he wrote a detailed history, entitled "A True Account of the Conquest of Peru" (1549), still considered of great value as a source of information.
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Xibalba
Xibalba the Kiche Hades. (See Hell .)
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Ximena
the site of a battle in southern Spain, between the Spanish army under the command of General Ballasteros, and the French corps commanded by General Regnier, Sept. 10, 1811. The Spaniards defeated their adversaries; the loss was great on both sides.
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Xiphias
in ichthyology, a genus of Xiphiidæ, distinguished by the absence of ventral fins . The best known species is X. gladius, the common or Mediterranean swordfish. Günther says that the distinction of species is beset with great difficulties because the form of the dorsal, the length of the ventrals, and the shape and length of the sword change according to the age. X-RAY. See ROENTGEN RAYS.
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Xuthus
Son of Hellen by the nymph Orseis, and a brother of Dorus and Aeolus . He was king of Peloponnesus , and the husband of Creusa, the daughter of Erechtheus, by whom he became the father of Achaeus and Ion.
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