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In general, the tightly controlled Spartan society was not preoccupied with legitimacy issues but with male children's production. Indeed, it is reported that older men encouraged their wives to have affairs with younger men so that out of these relationships, strong male infants would be born. The level of sexual freedom of Spartan women was something that bewildered the Ancient Greeks, including Aristotle. Moreover, Spartan women could divorce their husband who was not the case in the rest of Greece.<ref>Cartledge, p 78</ref>

[[File: Sparta.jpg |200px|thumb|left|Modern painting of the siege of Sparta]]

Spartan women were part of the political community, and they had the same rights as men. The city-state’s political system was a curious one, and it had two royal families and two queens. Now, these queens did not have real formal political power, but they had enormous influence. The queens had a great deal of social prestige, and Gorgo, the widow of King Leonidas, who died a hero at Thermopylae, was a significant Laconia figure.