Half-Olympian son of Zeus by Europa daughter of Agenor (or Phoenix in variant traditions); third of the three Cretan brothers — alongside Minos (kingship of Crete) and Rhadamanthys (lawgiver, judge of the dead). Conceived when Zeus, in bull-form, abducted Europa from Tyre and carried her across the sea to Crete. Reared on Crete under the protection of Asterius the Cretan king (Europa's subsequent husband, social-father to the three Zeus-sons). After Asterius's death, quarreled with Minos over the kingship of Crete and over the love of the youth Miletus (son of Apollo and Areia). Minos prevailed; Sarpedon and his followers were driven from Crete. Miletus fled to Caria and founded the eponymous city Miletus; Sarpedon proceeded to Lycia (the country called Termilae), where he established kingship. Per Herodotus 1.173, Sarpedon's settlement gave rise to the people who in his day were called Lycians. Per the canonical genealogy (Apollod. 3.1.2; Diod. Sic. 5.79), Zeus granted Sarpedon an extended lifespan of three generations — the structural device that allows the Cretan-Lycian Sarpedon-tradition to bridge the foundation-era and the Trojan War. The Lycian Sarpedon of the Iliad (5, 12, 16) — son of Zeus by Laodamia daughter of Bellerophon — is variously read as either the grandson of the Cretan Sarpedon (the more common interpretation) or as the same figure under the three-generation lifespan extension; the registry treats them as distinct entries (greek_sarpedon_cretan and greek_homer_sarpedon) with the ancestor-relation noted.