King of Lycia and a son of Zeus, fighting for Troy. When Patroclus killed him, Zeus wept tears of blood.
From Lycia. Today: the coast between Fethiye and Antalya, Turkey.
Strength 8/10 · Wisdom 6/10 · Courage 8/10 · Divinity 4/10 · Fame 6/10
The story
King of the Lycians, son of Zeus and Laodamia, and one of Troy‘s bravest allies. In book 12 he leads the attack that tears down part of the Greek wall, telling Glaucus that kings must fight at the front to deserve their honours.
How it ends
Zeus thought of saving him, but Hera warned that every god would then want the same for their sons. Patroclus killed him, and Sleep and Death carried his body home to Lycia.
Still with us today
A famous Greek vase painted around 515 BC, the Euphronios krater, shows Sleep and Death lifting his body. It went back to Italy from New York’s Metropolitan Museum in 2008.
Family
- Parents: Zeus, Laodamia
- Siblings: Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Aphrodite, Hermes, Dionysus, Persephone, Hebe, The Muses, Calliope, Heracles, Perseus, Minos
Appears in
Read about them in the Library
- Iliad 2: The dream and the ships
- Iliad 5: Diomedes against the gods
- Iliad 12: The battle at the wall
- Iliad 16: The death of Patroclus
- Library of Apollodorus 10: Europa, Minos and Thebes
Ancient sources
- Homer, Iliad
Sarpedon is a playable card in MythoTroy, the Trojan War card game.