Sarpedon was a son of
Zeus and Europa, and he was a brother of Minos and Rhadamanthys, with whom he was reared by the childless king Asterius (who had married Europa). On the basis that 'h' could often replace 's' in Greek (see Salmoneus) we have good grounds for reading his name as 'Harpedon' and so for regarding his name, perhaps, as deriving from harpage, 'seizure', 'rape', this referring to his abduction of Europa. Compare the name of the Harpies.
