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Xanthippe

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Celebrity's Relative

The Resume

    (circa 450 BC-circa 379 BC)
    Wife of Socrates

Why she might be annoying:

    She was the prototypical-nagging housewife.
    In Xenophon's 'Symposium' Antisthenes described her as 'One of the most difficult women of times past, present, or future.'
    It is alleged that Alchabiades asked Socrates how he put up with her, to which he responded: 'To live with such a woman can be sometimes useful like breaking in a wild horse: then you are better prepared to face the others in the fighting area. Additionally, I got used to it by now: It is pretty much the same as one hears the endless sound of a winch.'
    After being asked about marriage, Socrates is said to have reflected on his own and replied 'Do what you want, either way you will regret it.'
    Socrates was once late in coming home, causing and argument between them. She then grabbed a bucket of water and doused him with it. Socrates' reply was: 'After thunder comes rain.'
    Her age is assumed, based on the dates of Socrates' life.

Why she might not be annoying:

    Almost everything that we know about her is anecdotal, and Plato and Xenophon most likely exaggerated her character for comedic effect.
    She and Socrates married when he was 50 and she was quite younger. More than likely, he did not love her and only wanted children (they had three sons).
    She was devastated when her husband died.
    Socrates may have had a second wife. How many women will put up with that?
    Her husband spent all of his free time annoying the citizens of Athens or watching nude boys wrestle in a gymnasium.

Credit: Nihilism Cynicism Sarcasm Orgasm


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 4 Votes: 25.00% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 2 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 8 Votes: 62.50% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 24 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 10 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 22 Votes: 59.09% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 7 Votes: 57.14% Annoying
    In 2010, Out of 35 Votes: 65.71% Annoying
    In 2009, Out of 33 Votes: 63.64% Annoying
    In 2008, Out of 46 Votes: 58.70% Annoying
    In 2007, Out of 85 Votes: 57.65% Annoying
    In 2006, Out of 129 Votes: 53.49% Annoying
    In 2005, Out of 244 Votes: 55.74% Annoying
    In 2004, Out of 353 Votes: 59.77% Annoying
    In 2003, Out of 591 Votes: 64.81% Annoying
    In 2002, Out of 282 Votes: 65.25% Annoying