Family background

Her father Cleomenes (or Kleomenes) was the eldest-born son of the previous Agiad king, Anaxandridas II, and succeeded his father at his death. However, he had three paternal half-brothers, of whom, the second Dorieus would cause him some trouble. The other two half-brothers were Leonidas I and Cleombrotus. All four were sons of Anaxandridas II, one of the dual kings of Sparta of the Agiad house.

According to one version (Herodotus's Histories, 5.4), Gorgo's grandfather Anaxandras II was long married without children, and was advised to remarry (i.e. take a second wife) which he did. His second wife gave birth to the future Cleomenes I who was thus his eldest son. However, his first wife became pregnant, and eventually gave birth to three sons, including Leonidas I.[1] This version is however not supported by other sources, which imply that Cleomenes was either born by the king's first marriage or by a non-marital alliance. In either case, there appears to have been some tension between the eldest son and his half-brothers, resolved only by the former's death (or murder)[2] and the accession of Leonidas I (at once his half-brother and his son-in-law).

Gorgo's mother is unknown, but she was probably Spartan by birth. Both Xenophon and Plutarch (in his Life of Lycurgus, the law-giver for Sparta) mention that Spartan society was concerned with blood purity, with avoidance of intermarriage with the rest of the population (the helots and others, possibly of Achaean stock), and with marriages of heiresses.

Little about Gorgo's childhood is known, although she was probably raised like other Spartan girls of noble family, encouraged in daily physical exercise to strengthen her body, and reared to be married off to an older Spartan husband who would see little of her. (For more on the life of Spartan women, see Plutarch.[3]) According to Herodotus's Histories, at about the age of eight to nine years old, she advised her father Cleomenes not to trust Aristagoras of Miletus, a foreign diplomat trying to induce Cleomenes to support an Ionian revolt against Persians. "Father, you had better have this man go away, or the stranger will corrupt you". Cleomenes followed her advice.

Her father died under mysterious circumstances, possibly killed by his two surviving half-brothers. He was considered insane, possibly because of his interest in the world outside Sparta (an interest not shared by other Spartans who followed the dictates of Lycurgus). His "insanity" did not prevent him from being chosen king, but it was possibly a cause of his downfall.

Marriage

Presumably, after Cleomenes's death, his only child Gorgo became his sole heiress. She was apparently already married in the late 490s (in her early teens) to her half-uncle Leonidas I.[4] Leonidas and Gorgo would have at least one child, a son, Pleistarchus, co-King of Sparta from 480 BC to his death in 459 BC/458 BC.

Gorgo's most significant role came during the aftermath of the Battle of Thermopylae (480 BC), when her husband Leonidas I was killed in battle along with 300 Spartans and many other Greeks. According to Herodotus's Histories, a message from Demaratus arrived at Sparta after the Battle of Thermopylae; it was a warning that Greece was going to be invaded by Xerxes. In order to pass enemy lines without suspicion, the message was written on a wooden plate and covered with wax. The Spartan generals didn't know what to do with the seemingly blank, wax-covered wooden plate. It was Queen Gorgo who advised them to clear the wax off the plate.[5]

According to Plutarch, before the Battle of Thermopylae, knowing that her husband's death in battle was inevitable, she asked him what to do. Leonidas replied "marry a good man that will treat you well, bear him children, and live a good life."

Children

She had at least one son by Leonidas I, Pleistarchus, co-King of Sparta from 480 BC to his death in 458 BC.

Her son was a minor at his father's death, because his uncle Cleombrotus (d 480 BC) and then his first cousin and heir Pausanias (r. 480-479 BC) acted as his regent. It was Pausanias who was the architect of the narrow Greek victory at the Battle of Plataea (479 BC) . When Pausanias fell into disfavor and was accused of plotting treason, Leonidas's son Pleistarchus ruled alone from 478 BC to his death 459/458 BC.[6]

Historical mentions

She is mentioned by name at least thrice in Herodotus (Histories) and at least once by Plutarch. Herodotus mentions her twice in the context of political interactions where she is present at court or in council and gives advice to the king or the elders. This either indicates that Gorgo was highly thought of by Herodotus who often left out the names of the female figures he included in his books, or that as the wife of Leonidas I, her actions and counsel were all the more noteworthy.

Plutarch quotes Queen Gorgo as follows: "When asked by a woman from Attica, 'Why are you Spartan women the only ones who can rule men?', she said: 'Because we are also the only ones who give birth to men.'" Another version has this as, "...some foreign lady, as it would seem, told her that the women of Lacedaemon were the only women in the world who could rule men; 'With good reason,' she said, 'for we are the only women who bring forth men.'" (Plutarch's Lives: Lycurgus)

Nothing is known of Gorgo's life after 480 BC.

Further reading

Blundell, Sue. Women in Ancient Greece. British Museum Press, London, 1995.

Sealey, Raphel. Women and Law in Classical Greece. University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill & London, 1990.

Pomeroy, Sarah. Spartan Women. Oxford University Press, 2002.

Note

Sparta had a system of dual kings, from two rival but related houses, descended allegedly from twin sons of an early king of Sparta].[7]. However, according to Herodotus, Cleomenes himself said that he was an Achaean and not a Dorian, which might signify that Sparta's two royal houses were chosen from the Dorian and Achaean peoples.