1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Pandarus
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
PANDARUS, in Greek legend, son of Lycaon, a Lycian, one of the heroes of the Trojan war. He is not an important figure in Homer. He breaks the truce between the Trojans and the Greeks by treacherously wounding Menelaus with an arrow, and finally he is slain by Diomedes (Homer, Iliad, ii. 827, iv. 88, v. 290). In medieval romance he became a prominent figure in the tale of Troilus and Cressida. He encouraged the amour between the Trojan prince and his niece Cressida; and the word “pander” has passed into modern language as the common title of a lovers’ go-between in the worst sense.