In Greek mythology, Sarpedon was a son of Zeus who fought for Troy as king of the Lycians in the Trojan War. Homer makes him son of Zeus and Laodamia, daughter of Bellerophon; the later standard tradition identifies him with Europa's son, brother of Minos and Rhadamanthus — sometimes by granting him a life of three generations, sometimes by making the Trojan hero that Sarpedon's grandson. Patroclus slays him in Iliad Book 16; Zeus has Apollo, Sleep, and Death carry his body home to Lycia.
Adapted from Wikipedia, "Sarpedon (Trojan War hero)" · CC BY-SA 4.0
I.Genealogy
In the Iliad Sarpedon is Zeus' son by Laodamia, daughter of Bellerophon and the Lycian princess Philonoe, with no Cretan link. Hesiod, Bacchylides, Aeschylus' Carians, and the Euripidean Rhesus instead make Europa bear Zeus three sons on Crete — Minos, Sarpedon, and Rhadamanthus — and place that Sarpedon at Troy. Apollodorus says Zeus let Europa's son live three generations to bridge the chronological gap; Diodorus separates them, making Euandrus (son of the Cretan Sarpedon) father by Deïdameia of the Sarpedon who fought at Troy. Dictys names Xanthus and Laodamia as parents; other late notices vary.
In the Cretan tale, Asterion adopts Europa's sons; Sarpedon quarrels with Minos over the throne or over the boy Miletus (or Atymnius), loses, and flees to Asia Minor. Herodotus has him and the Termilae settle among the Milyans in the land later called Lycia; Apollodorus has him join Cilix and become king of the Lycians.
II.At Troy and death
With his cousin Glaucus he leads the Lycian allies. He rebukes Hector for leaving the hard fighting to Troy's friends, storms the Achaean wall beside Glaucus and Asteropaios, and delivers to Glaucus the famous speech on noblesse oblige — that kings honoured above others must fight in the front line.
When Patroclus enters in Achilles' armour, Zeus weighs sparing his son but yields to Hera's warning that other gods' sons are also fated to die. Sarpedon kills Achilles' mortal horse before Patroclus strikes him down; Zeus rains blood in grief. Glaucus is charged to defend the corpse; the Greeks win the armour, but Apollo cleanses the body and gives it to Hypnos and Thanatos to bear to Lycia — a scene famous on the Euphronios krater and later art.
III.Reception
Evidence suggests pre-Homeric, non-Greek worship of Sarpedon in Lycia and Cilicia. The asteroid 2223 Sarpedon is named for the Trojan-War hero. This notice concerns Zeus' Lycian champion, not the Thracian son of Poseidon slain by Heracles.