Menecrates of Xanthus was a Greek historian from the Lycian city of Xanthus who lived during the 4th century BCE. Beyond this origin and period, no details of his life survive.

His only known work is the Foundation of Naxos, a local history concerning the Greek island of Naxos. The work is lost and survives only in fragments and testimonia.

Menecrates is significant as a source for later writers. His foundation narrative was used by Callimachus in the Aetia and is cited by Strabo regarding the colonization of Naxos. He represents the genre of local historiography, or ktisis, that preserved regional myths and traditions.