GORGO_ was the daughter of King Cleomenes. For centuries her anecdotes were table talk. At the age of eight this Spartan Shirley Temple became famous for her one liners. While eavsdropping on her father's conversation with a diplomat, who was lobbying him to go to war with the Persians; Gorgo pipped up with something like, "Be careful Pops. If you don't run this guy out of the house soon he'll be your ruin." Her father listened to her, and took her advice.

She grew up to become the wife of Spartan hero Leonides. He won his fame as the bravest general of the Persian war.

When her husband was saying good-bye; as he set out to fight the Persians, Gorgo asked "What will I do if you do not come back?" The hero replied, "Marry a good man and bear good children."

Sure enough Leonidas was killed defending the pass of Thermopylae along with three hundred of his best men. In the aftermath, a Spartan ally sent a message to warn that Xerxes planned to invade Greece. To get the message through enemy lines a tablet was sent that appeared to be blank. None of the Spartan generals could figure out what to do with it, until smart mouth Gorgo showed up and said, "Simple, folks_the message is on the mahogany." It was a wax covered slate with the wax scraped off, and the message was on the wood. Then new wax was put on it so that it appeared blank. It took Gorgo to figure it out. To this day she is not forgotten.