Sarpedon (Iliad)
Sarpedon ( Greek Σαρπηδών , also Σαρπήδων ) is a figure in Greek mythology .
Sarpedon in the Iliad
In Homer's Iliad , Sarpedon is the son of Laodameia , a daughter of Bellerophon , and Zeus. He fought in the Trojan War as the Lycian army leader on the side of the Trojans. Patroclus , who went into battle in the armor of his friend Achilles , kills Sarpedon before he himself is killed by Hector . Hector, Glaukos and Aineias steal Sarpedon's body back, which is then taken by Hypnos and Thanatos to Lycia on the instructions of Zeus to be buried there.
Alternative genealogy
According to another version, Sarpedon is a son of Zeus and Europa and the youngest brother of Minos and Rhadamanthys . As a result, he must have been born in Crete two generations before the Trojan War . The ancient authors explain this discrepancy in different ways: According to Herodotus , Sarpedon is said to have quarreled with Minos about the succession to the throne (according to the library of Apollodorus : about a young lover). Sarpedon was defeated, after which he left Crete and is said to have become king in Lycia , which explains the geographical deviation, but not the chronological one. Apollodor justifies the long period of time with the fact that Zeus had given his son the privilege to live three generations. Diodorus, however, declares that the Cretan Sarpedon is the paternal grandfather of the hero of the same name in the Trojan War, who is a son of Deidameia and Euandros , King of Lycia. Hyginus refers to the hero of the Iliad again as the son of Zeus and Europa, without going into the difficulties that result.
In the Aeneid , Sarpedon is the father of Antiphates .
Others
The asteroid (2223) Sarpedon was named after Sarpedon .
literature
- Otto Immisch : Sarpedon 4) . In: Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (Hrsg.): Detailed lexicon of Greek and Roman mythology . Volume 4, Leipzig 1915, Col. 403-411 ( digitized version ).
- René Nünlist : Sarpedon 1) . In: Brill's New Pauly . Volume 12, Leiden 2008, Col. 1002
- Dietrich von Bothmer : Sarpedon . In: Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC). Volume VII, Zurich / Munich 1994, pp. 696-700.
Web links
- Sarpedon in the Greek Myth Index (English)