Cratesiclea

Cratesiclea (died 219 BC), was a Spartan queen, married to king Leonidas II of Sparta (ancient Greece), and mother of Cleomenes III and Chilonis.

The latter, mistrusting the Spartan king because of his revolutionary ideas, accepted to provide help in condition that his children and Cratesiclea go to Alexandria and remain there as hostages.

Cratesiclea, feeling that this was a duty towards Sparta, proudly boarded on the Egyptian ship heading to Alexandria (222).

In retaliation, Ptolemaios IV had both him, his followers as well as his mother and two young sons executed.

[7] The Greek poet Constantine Cavafy dedicated two poems to Cratesiclea: "In Sparta" [8] and "Come, O King of the Lacedaimonians"[9].