Menexenus (; ) was one of the three sons of

Socrates Socrates (; ; – 399 BC) was a Ancient Greek philosophy, Greek philosopher from Classical Athens, Athens who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and as among the first moral philosophers of the Ethics, ethical tradition ...

and

Xanthippe Xanthippe (; ; fl. 5th–4th century BCE) was an Classical Athens, 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 ...

. His two brothers were Lamprocles and Sophroniscus. Menexenus is not to be confused with the character of the same name who appears in

Plato Plato ( ; Greek language, Greek: , ; born BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical Greece, Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the writte ...

's dialogues ''Menexenus'' and ''Lysis''. Socrates' sons Menexenus and Sophroniscus were still children at the time of their father's trial and death, one of them small enough to be held in his mother's arms. According to

Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...

, Socrates' descendants all turned out to be unremarkable "fools and dullards".Aristotle. ''

Rhetoric Rhetoric is the art of persuasion. It is one of the three ancient arts of discourse ( trivium) along with grammar and logic/ dialectic. As an academic discipline within the humanities, rhetoric aims to study the techniques that speakers or w ...

'', Book 2 Chapter 1

References

{{Socrates navbox Ancient Athenians Family of Socrates