+300 votes! I believe it's time for Leonidas to appear in Sid Meier's Civilization as a leader. He deserves it more than ever this time. In the past not only he was just a Great General, but Xerxes is already a leader in Civilization VII, which will make for an interesting historical interaction, although the two probably never had a conversation with each other in real life. If a Persian Wars scenario ever gets made, then I can see Leonidas being perfect for it.
It is true that his wife Gorgo has appeared in Civilization VI, but her whole design screamed "I'm Leonidas in female form". She carried a hoplite spear, and her ability was named Thermopylae, but I doubt if the real Spartan queen had ever brandished a hoplite's spear in her hand and she definitely didn't participate in the battle of Thermopylae. I get it, Firaxis wanted a woman as the second Greek leader, and who's the most famous Spartan woman in history? Gorgo. I still believe the choice was flawed. The saying that only Spartan women give birth to men, which was supposedly said by Gorgo during her interaction with one Athenian woman, wasn't even one of her dialogue lines.
Whatever the case, we need a militaristic Spartan as a leader to be added in the future for a very important reason. The current capital of Greece is Athenai, but Athens wasn't always the strongest city. Cities such as Sparta, Corinth, Syracuse, Thebes, were just as strong or surpassed Athens in strength at some point in history. If a Spartan leader is added to the game, then we can get Sparta as a different capital for Greece, which would be neat. An existing feature in Civilization VI that I liked a lot. I would also like to have the ability to change freely the capital of my civilization inside each Age as well, by the way, but a mod might get released that will let us do exactly that. And I will add another important reason. In the past the only Greek leaders we got were Alexander, Pericles, Cleopatra and Byzantine emperors and empresses (I won't add Hippolyta because she simply never existed in real life). A half Macedonian and half Epirote, An Athenian, another Macedonian and Byzantines. We got a Spartan leader for the first time in Civilization VI, and the leader wasn't even a Spartan king with some strong political and military influence. I think we definitely need to get more Spartan leaders from now on.
If Firaxis doesn't want to make Leonidas a leader, who they should since he is a famous heroic figure in Greece and a popular cultural icon worldwide, then there are some other interesting Spartan options:
Cleomenes I, the brother of Leonidas I and the most influential man in Archaic Greece that was responsible for the expansion of the Peloponnesian League, the turning of the once powerful Argos into a weak city-state and the creation of Athenian democracy. He never lost a battle. His only flaw is that he was besieged by the Athenian citizens in the citadel when trying to secure a tyrant's position in the city, and he had to surrender along with his small force. Although that doesn't count as an infantry battle, it was still humiliating for the king. His ending was cruel and mimicked the fate of the heroes of the tragic plays. He was proclaimed mad, got imprisoned and died by suicide (or got murdered, probably by the Ephors).
Agesilaus II, the Spartan king at the height of Sparta's dominance. He invaded Anatolia and had dreams of reaching the capital Susa in the heart of the Persian Empire, unfortunately the Persians instigated a war back in Greece, and he had to be recalled. At the end of his life, Sparta was at its weakest, while it was at its height when Agesilaus came to power. Nonetheless, he never lost a battle, and he was the epitome of a true Spartan. Proud, brave, disciplined, modest and lacked the desire to gain riches for himself. He died on his way home from a trip to Egypt, where he had provided his service as a mercenary general in order to obtain wealth for Sparta.
Brasidas. Not a king, but he was an ephor for some time and later an extremely successful general. He managed to win the favour of Amphipolis with just words, the greatest Athenian colony in Thrace, and routed an Athenian army killing six hundred soldiers including its general Cleon outside the city with only seven loses! Unfortunately, Brasidas was among the seven. The citizens of Amphipolis heroized him, buried him inside the city (a great honor), and made annual celebrations in his name, while a cenotaph was created besides the tombs of Leonidas and Pausanias in Sparta. His golden wreath and silver ossuary were found in Amphipolis and you can view them nowadays.
Lysander, the figure that epicly won the Peloponnesian War for Sparta, but his haste to start a siege in Boeotia cost him his life in a less epic way. I would advise against choosing Lysander simply because he was unbeatable in sea battles, but achieved nothing significant in infantry battles and the Spartan leader should have some bonus towards infantry anyway.
The fascinating thing about all these figures is that all of them tried to gain the support of city-states other than Sparta. Lysander gained the support of the Aegean cities in favour of Sparta, Brasidas gained the support of the Athenian colonies up north close to Macedonia, Cleomenes I tried to use the power of a coalition that included the strong Peloponnesian League and a few other city-states as a mean to install a tyrant in Athens and later tried to create a league of Arcadian cities to oppose Sparta, and Agesilaus II gained the support of the Greek cities in Minor Asia during his expedition. In the case of
Leonidas I, he gathered units of soldiers from different Greek allied cities when marching north to Thermopylae in order to create a sizeable army, which is something that can be used as an ability for him in-game. For instance, he can provide more combat strength to infantry units for each city-state you are the suzerain of and the levying of City-State units can be free for him, or he could even give more defensive bonuses to fortified infantry units. So, a Diplomatic and Militaristic Spartan leader will fit rather well with Greece, in my opinion.
As for Leonidas's appearance, he doesn't have to follow pop culture. He can be depicted older (or even younger) with long braided hair, a bell or muscle cuirass, a doru, a hoplon with a gorgoneion emblem or the Spartan sun symbol of kings while he could wear a Corinthian helmet with a transverse crest that has engraved lions or rams on the bronze cheek plates. Leonidas is also a great candidate for a persona. The
Agiad (Diplomatic and Militaristic) and the
Geron (Diplomatic and Cultural). The first will depict him with the bronze cuirass and the helmet on. The second will lack the helmet and a crimson chlamys will be draped over him.
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Jokes aside (or maybe not), We will certainly get more warmongers in the future, meaning Leonidas can be one of them. As a warmonger, I don't find this a negative, but I get why people want more peacemongers to fit their playstyle. We are in need of more Spartan representation in Sid Meier's Civilization, though. Gorgo was the first Spartan we ever got. I can also see the Spartan leader having two personae, with one being Diplomatic and Cultural, the other Diplomatic and Militaristic. In the case of Brasidas, the Polemarch and the Ephor. In the case of the kings, the Agiad/Eurypontid and the Geron as mentioned above. Lysander's personae will need to be a little bit different. The Navarch (Diplomatic and Militaristic) and the Administrator (Diplomatic and Economic). All Laconophiles will have fun playing as any of them.
) Bonus points for her having unique diplomatic responses flirtatious with female leaders (to be fair I think some hetero leaders could have such feature as well, especially infamous Benjamin Franklin 
