europa's tale, well known in later classical literature and beyond, appears in a largely familiar form in the "catalogue". she caught zeus's eye while she and some friends were gathering flowers in a meadow. the god transformed into a bull with breath smelling of saffron, in the guise of which he abducted europa, carrying her upon his back to crete. there she bore minos, rhadamanthys and sarpedon to zeus, and he gave her a necklace made by hephaestus that would figure in theban saga as the necklace of harmonia. sarpedon ruled lycia, and was apparently granted a lifespan equal to three generations of men by zeus. his death at troy and the rain of blood it inspired zeus to send is briefly described. minos ruled crete, succeeding his stepfather asterion. poseidon sent up from the sea a bull which had sex with minos' wife pasiphae, siring the minotaur. to minos she also bore deucalion, catreus, androgeos and eurygyes, though it is equally possible that these last two names referred to a single son. at least one daughter, ariadne, was surely present, for the myth of androgeos–eurygyes' death in athens and the subsequent sacrifice of athenian youths to the minotaur will presuppose theseus' expedition to crete and ariadne's complicity in slaying the beast.