Page 62 - Sarpedon’dan Keykubad’a Bir Zamanlar Antalya

“…Glaukos, why do they respect us so much in Lycia,
Why do they make us sit in the corner,
Why do they welcome you with bowls full of meat,
Why do they look at us like we are gods
Why do we have vast lands on the shores of the great Xanthos,
Suitable for both vineyards and wheat?
So what is our duty here,
Isn’t it to fight in the front row of the Lycians?
O my soul mate
What is the end of running away from war,
To live immortal without getting old?
If I knew this, would I have fought myself,
Nor would I send you to the war that made the soldiers famous
What are you, goddesses of death watch our way,
A mortal cannot escape from them, he cannot escape.
Let’s go, let’s see,
Do we give fame to the enemy,
Or does the enemy give us fame?’’
(II. XII, 310 vd.)

Here, Sarpedon, as the commander of the Lycians, one of
the pioneering people who came to support Troy, brings the
Lycian army to Troy with his cousin Glaukos. As soon as the
Lycian army commanded by Sarpedon arrives in Troy, he finds
himself in the middle of a tough war. It is as if they are in the
middle of the flames in a burning forest. So much so that this
situation does not make him take a step back for a moment.
He was thrown into the war without any hesitation as if he was
fighting for his own land, Lycia. Because this struggle is now a
homeland struggle for all peoples living in Anatolia. Just like in
Gallipoli-Gelibolu in 1915.
Sarpedon, who fights like a supreme commander, defeats
many famous heroes in the Achaean army from the very first
time he entered the conflict. First of all, Tlepolemos, the Rhodi-
an commander, son of the valiant Heracles, comes before him.
This is such an encounter that both great heroes know the great-
ness of each other. However, it is important to lower the guard of

61