Xanthippus was
Athenian politician and
general during the early part of the fifth century B.C.. He was responsible for prosecuting
Miltiades after he had failed to capture
Paros in 489 B.C.
He was ostracised in 484 B.C., in a three way rivalry with Themistocles and Aristides. He was recalled to Athens, prior to the invasion of the Persians. In 479 B.C. he commanded the Athenian contingent at the battle of Mycale, under Leotychidas. After the Spartans had withdrawn from the Hellenic league he led some of the Greeks in an assault upon Sestus, which was captured from the Persians, after a winter seige.
We presume he was dead when his son provided the money for a play by Aeschylus, something that could only have been done with the family money.
He was married to the neice of Cleisthenes and his greatest achievment, his son, was Pericles.