Which wife of Leonidas was also the daughter of Cleomenes I?

The story behind the answer

Gorgo was the wife of Leonidas I and the daughter of Cleomenes I. Her marriage linked two generations of Sparta's Agiad royal family: Leonidas was Cleomenes's half-brother, making Gorgo his niece as well as his queen.

Gorgo is one of the best-attested Spartan women of the classical period. Her father ruled Sparta before Leonidas, and Leonidas became king after Cleomenes died without a surviving male heir. Their marriage helped preserve the family's royal continuity, and they had a son, Pleistarchus.

After Leonidas died at Thermopylae in 480 BCE, Pleistarchus inherited the Agiad throne while still a child. Gorgo therefore became part of the dynastic story that connected Leonidas's kingship to the next generation. Ancient sources also portray her as politically perceptive: Herodotus describes her recognizing the significance of a hidden message sent by Demaratus warning Sparta about Xerxes's invasion. The other options belong to different historical contexts and were not Leonidas's wife or Cleomenes's daughter.

Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Aug. 2026

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