Sarpedon (Trojan War hero)
(2) ?
In
Hero cult
There was a temple of Sarpedon in Xanthos, in Lycia, perhaps associated with a supposed burial site there.[2] There was also a temple and oracle of Apollo Sarpedonios and Artemis Sarpedonia at Seleuceia in Cilicia.[3] According to Tertullian there was a shrine and oracle of Sarpedon in the Troad, although Tertullian might have been confusing this for the oracle in Cilicia.[4] There is evidence to suggest that Sarpedon was the subject of pre-Homeric non-Greek worship.[5]
Genealogy
There were three separate traditions concerning the genealogy of Sarpedon the brother of Minos, and Sarpedon the Trojan War hero.
In Homer's Iliad, Zeus had two sons by Europa, Minos and Rhadamanthus.[6][7] While Sarpedon, a Trojan ally from Lycia, was the son of Zeus and Laodamia, the daughter of Bellerophon and the Lycian princess Philonoe, with no apparent connection to Crete.[8] However, in the standard classical tradition Sarpedon was instead the Cretan son of Zeus and Europa, and the brother of Minos.[9] According to scholia to Iliad book 12, citing Hesiod and Bacchylides, Europa bore Zeus three sons on Crete, Minos, Sarpedon, and Rhadamanthus.[10]
A fragment of the Hesiodic Catalogue of Women (preserved on a papyrus with many holes), mentions Europa's children by Zeus, and while only the name Rhadamanthus is preserved, there is sufficient room for the names Minos and Sarpedon, and the rest of the fragment appears to involve Sarpedon's exploits at Troy.[11] A fragment of Aeschylus' Carians also has Sarpedon as the third son, after Minos and Rhadamanthus, of Zeus and Europa.[12] In the fragment, Sarpedon is off fighting at Troy, while Europa waits anxiously for word of his fate. This same genealogy appears in the Euripidean Rhesus.[13]
Having a Trojan War hero also be the brother of Minos involves a genealogical difficulty, since Minos lived three generations before the Trojan War. In some accounts, Zeus granted his son Sarpedon the gift of long life. Such a gift is already suggested by the Hesiodic Catalogue fragment, and Apollodorus, perhaps drawing on the Catalogue, says that Zeus allowed his (and Europa's) son Sarpedon to live for three generations.[14] However, by other accounts, the Sarpedon who was the brother of Minos, and the Sarpedon who fought at Troy were different. Diodorus Siculus says that, according to Cretan myth, the Sarpedon who was the son of Zeus and Europa, and the brother of Minos and Rhadamanthus, had a son Euandrus who married Deïdameia, the daughter of Bellerophon, and by her was the father of the Sarpedon who fought at Troy.[15]
In
Mythology
Sarpedon II | |
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Trojan War hero | |
Member of the Lycian Royal Family | |
Abode | Lycia |
Personal information | |
Parents | (1) Zeus and Laodamia (2) Zeus and Hippodamia (3) Euandros and Deidamia (4) Xanthus and Laodamia |
Siblings | - |
Brother of Minos
Sarpedon and his brothers Minos and Rhadamanthus, were adopted by the
As
As mentioned above, in the standard tradition, this Sarpedon was a leader of a Lycian contingent which fought alongside the Trojans in the Trojan War. Although according to Diodorus Siculus, this Sarpedon instead had a son Euandrus who was the father of the Sarpedon who fought at Troy.[25]
Trojan War
He scolded
Death
When Patroclus entered the battle in the armour of Achilles, Sarpedon met him in combat. Zeus debated with himself whether to spare his son's life even though he was fated to die by the hand of Patroclus. He would have done so had Hera not reminded him that other gods' sons were fighting and dying and other gods' sons were fated to die as well. If Zeus should spare his son from his fate, another god might do the same; therefore Zeus let Sarpedon die while fighting Patroclus, but not before Sarpedon killed the only mortal horse of Achilles. During their fight, Zeus sent a shower of bloody raindrops over the Trojans' heads expressing the grief for the impending death of his son.[29]
When Sarpedon fell, mortally wounded, he called on Glaucus to rescue his body and arms. Patroclus withdrew the spear he had embedded in Sarpedon, and as it left Sarpedon's body his spirit went with it.[30] A violent struggle ensued over the body of the fallen king. The Greeks succeeded in gaining his armour (which was later given as a prize in the funeral games for Patroclus), but Zeus had Phoebus Apollo rescue the corpse. Apollo took the corpse and cleaned it, then delivered it to Sleep (Hypnos) and Death (Thanatos), who took it back to Lycia for funeral honours.[31] (See: Iliad books: II, IV, XII, XVI).
Namesake
- An asteroid is named after the Trojan War hero, 2223 Sarpedon.
References
- ^ Hard, pp. 349–350.
- ^ Janko, p. 372; Rose, s.v. Sarpedon, p. 952; Smith, s.v. Sarpedon 2; Appian, The Civil Wars 4.10.78.
- ^ Janko, p. 372; Renberg, p. 530; Strabo, 14.5.19; Diodorus Siculus, 32.10.2.
- ^ Renberg, p. 530.
- ^ Janko, p. 372; Rose, s.v. Sarpedon, p. 952.
- ^ Gantz, pp. 210, 211
- ^ Iliad, 14.321–322 14.
- ^ Hard, p. 349; Gantz, pp. 211, 316; Homer, Iliad, 2.876–877, 6.191–199.
- ^ Hard 2004, pp. 349–350.
- ^ Gantz, p. 210; Hesiod fr. 89 Most = Schol. D in Hom. Il. 12.397 = Hesiod fr. 140 Merkelbach-West = Bacchylides fr. 10 Snell-Machler.
- ^ Gantz, p. 210; Hesiod fr. 90 Most = P. Oxy. 1358 fr. 1 col. I; 6–13: P. Reinach 77 = Hesiod fr. 141 Merkelbach-West.
- ^ Sommerstiein, pp. 110–111; Gantz, pp. 210–211; Aeschylus fr. 99.
- ^ Euripides (?), Rhesus 29. See also Herodotus, 1.173.1–3.
- ^ Hard, p. 350; Apollodorus, 3.1.1–2.
- ^ Hard, p. 350; Diodorus Siculus, 5.78.1, 5.79.3.
- ^ Dictys Cretensis, 2.11
- Clementine Recognitions 10.21.
- ^ Hard, p. 337.
- ^ Gantz, p. 210; Hesiod fr. 89 Most = Schol. D in Hom. Il. 12.397 = Hesiod fr. 140 Merkelbach-West.
- ^ Diodorus Siculus, 4.60.2–3; Apollodorus, 3.1.1–2.
- ^ Hard, pp. 337, 350; Herodotus, 1.173.1–3; Diodorus Siculus, 5.79.3; Strabo, 12.8.5, 14.3.10; Apollodorus, 3.1.2; Pausanias, 7.3.7.
- ^ Hard, p. 350; Herodotus, 1.173.2. Compare with Strabo, 12.8.5.
- ^ Hard, p. 350; Apollodorus, 3.1.2.
- ^ Unwin, p. 66; Grimal, s.v. Sarpedon 2, p. 412; Strabo, 12.8.5; 14.1.6 (= Ephorus FGrH 70 F 127). For Miletus as founder see, for example, Apollodorus, 3.1.2.
- ^ Hard, p. 350; Diodorus Siculus, 5.78.1, 5.79.3.
- ^ Homer, Iliad, 2. 876
- ^ 5. 479-492
- ^ 12.310-28
- ^ 16. 419-461
- ^ 16. 477-505
- ^ 16. 667-684; see also Virgil, Aeneid, 1. 100
Bibliography
- Apollodorus, Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Appian, The Civil Wars, Horace White. London. MACMILLAN AND CO., LTD. 1899. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Clementine Recognitions, translated by Thomas Smith, in Ante-Nicene Christian Library: Translations of the Writings of the Fathers down to A.D. 325. Editied by Alexander Roberts, and James Donaldson, Vol III. Tatian, Theophilus, and The Clementine Recognitions. T. and T, Clark, Edinburgh 1867. Online version at Wikisource
- Dictys Cretensis, The Trojan War. The Chronicles of Dictys of Crete and Dares the Phrygian, translated by R. M. Frazer (Jr.). Indiana University Press. 1966. PDF.
- Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica. Vol 1-2. Immanel Bekker. Ludwig Dindorf. Friedrich Vogel. in aedibus B. G. Teubneri. Leipzig. 1888–1890. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
- .
- Euripides, Euripidis Fabulae. vol. 3. Gilbert Murray. Oxford. Clarendon Press, Oxford. 1913. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
- ISBN 978-0-8018-5362-3(Vol. 2).
- Hard, Robin (2004). The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's Handbook of Greek Mythology. ISBN 9780415186360. Retrieved April 27, 2020.
- .
- Homer, The Iliad with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Homer, Homeri Opera in five volumes. Oxford, Oxford University Press. 1920. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
- ISBN 9780521281744.
- .
- Grimal, Pierre, The Dictionary of Classical Mythology, Wiley-Blackwell, 1996. ISBN 978-0-631-20102-1.
- Pausanias, Pausanias Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Renberg, Gil, Where Dreams May Come: Incubation Sanctuaries in the Greco-Roman World, BRILL, 2017. ISBN 9789004330238.
- ISBN 0-19-869117-3.
- Sommerstein, Alan H., Aeschylus: Fragments. Edited and translated by Alan H. Sommerstein. .
- Strabo, Geography, translated by Horace Leonard Jones; Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. (1924). LacusCurtis, Online version at the Perseus Digital Library, Books 6–14
- Unwin, Naomi Carless, Caria and Crete in Antiquity, Cambridge University Press, 2017. ISBN 9781107194175.
Further reading
- Delcourt, Marie (1962). "The Legend of Sarpedon and the Saga of the Archer". History of Religions. 2 (1): 33–51. S2CID 162247439.
External links
- "Sarpedōn" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 24 (11th ed.). 1911. p. 221.
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