Pandarus

or Pan·da·ros

[ pan-der-uhs ]

noun

, Classical Mythology.

1. a Trojan who attempted to assassinate Menelaus, thereby violating a truce between the Greeks and the Trojans and prolonging the Trojan War: in Chaucerian and other medieval accounts, he is the procurer of Cressida for Troilus.

Pandarus

/ ˈpændərəs /

noun

1. Greek myth the leader of the Lycians, allies of the Trojans in their war with the Greeks. He broke the truce by shooting Menelaus with an arrow and was killed in the ensuing battle by Diomedes
2. (in medieval legend) the procurer of Cressida on behalf of Troilus

Example Sentences

Athena, sweeping down to the battlefield, persuaded the foolish heart of Pandarus, a Trojan, to break the truce and shoot an arrow at Menelaus.

From Literature

Pandarus is now a bookend of sorts: He gets to declaim the prologue and at the end of the play jauntily bids the audience adieu with a promise to “bequeath you my diseases.”

From New York Times

As Greek and Trojan nobles “clapperclaw” one another, and as Prince Troilus woos Cressida through the agency of her debauched uncle, Pandarus, then wins and loses her, Thersites wanders on and off the stage like an envenomed tragic chorus.

From The New Yorker

Suzzy Roche, in a frizzy fright wig, shows up as the doom-saying Cassandra; Greg Mehrten, looking like Bloody Mary from “South Pacific,” is Cressida’s prurient uncle Pandarus; and Ari Fliakos, with a Scottish burr and a welcome light wit, is the martyred Hector.

From New York Times

But it is Dudley Sutton – a veteran of Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop – who stands out with a fascinatingly cynical portrayal of Lesley, a portly, expat Pandarus who remains blithely complacent to any threat facing his way of life.

From The Guardian