Expedición de Bruto a Aquitania (izquierda)

Pandrasus is the fictional king of

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

and father of

Innogen Innogen is a character in the ''Historia Regum Britanniae'' and subsequent medieval British pseudo-history. She was said to have been a Greek princess, the daughter of King Pandrasus, and to have become Britain's first Queen consort as the wife ...

Geoffrey of Monmouth Geoffrey of Monmouth ( la, Galfridus Monemutensis, Galfridus Arturus, cy, Gruffudd ap Arthur, Sieffre o Fynwy; 1095 – 1155) was a British cleric from Monmouth, Wales and one of the major figures in the development of British historiograph ...

's pseudo-history ''

Historia Regum Britanniae ''Historia regum Britanniae'' (''The History of the Kings of Britain''), originally called ''De gestis Britonum'' (''On the Deeds of the Britons''), is a pseudohistorical account of British history, written around 1136 by Geoffrey of Monmouth. I ...

'' ().

Story

In the ''

'', Pandrasus is king of the Greeks, and holds the Trojan descendants of

Helenus In Greek mythology, Helenus (; grc, Ἕλενος, ''Helenos'', la, Helenus) was a gentle and clever seer. He was also a Trojan prince as the son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy, and the twin brother of the prophetess Cassandra. He was al ...

as slaves, who had been captured by Pyrrhus as punishment for the death of his father

Achilles In Greek mythology, Achilles ( ) or Achilleus ( grc-gre, Ἀχιλλεύς) was a hero of the Trojan War, the greatest of all the Greek warriors, and the central character of Homer's ''Iliad''. He was the son of the Nereid Thetis and Peleus, k ...

in the

Trojan War In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans (Greeks) after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, king of Sparta. The war is one of the most important events in Greek mythology and has ...

Brutus of Troy Brutus, also called Brute of Troy, is a legendary descendant of the Trojan hero Aeneas, known in medieval British history as the eponymous founder and first king of Britain. This legend first appears in the ''Historia Brittonum'', an anonymous ...

discovers these Trojans after being exiled from Italy, and rises to become their leader. Assaracus – a Greek noble of Trojan descent through his mother's side, who owns three castles – sides with the Trojans, as his fully Greek half brother had the support of Pandrasus to take his castles. Brutus agrees to support Assaracus, gathers all the Trojans and fortifies Assaracus' towns, then retreats with Assaracus and the Trojans to the woods and hills. Brutus sends a letter to Pandrasus, requesting that the Trojans be freed and allowed either to remain living in the woods, or to depart from Greece. Pandrasus consults with his nobles, then gathers an army to march on the town of Sparatinum where he suspects Brutus to be. Brutus ambushes them on their way to Sparatinum with three thousand men, and slaughters the Greeks as they try to fall back to the far side of the river Akalon (possibly the

Achelous In ancient Greek religion and mythology, Achelous (also Acheloos or Acheloios) (; Ancient Greek: Ἀχελώϊος, and later , ''Akhelôios'') was the god associated with the Achelous River, the largest river in Greece. According to Hesiod, he ...

Acheron The Acheron (; grc, Ἀχέρων ''Acheron'' or Ἀχερούσιος ''Acherousios''; ell, Αχέροντας ''Acherontas'') is a river located in the Epirus region of northwest Greece. It is long, and its drainage area is . Its source is ...

). Pandrasus' brother Antigonus attempts to rally the Greeks, but ends up being captured along with his companion Anacletus. Brutus reinforces the town with six hundred men then retreats to the woods, while Pandrasus reassembles the Greek forces and then lays siege to the town. While the Greeks are encamped around Sparatinum, Brutus forces Anacletus to trick the night sentries into leaving their posts to help Antigonus, and then attacks the sleeping Greeks, massacring nearly all of them, except Pandrasus, who is kept alive. The Trojans hold a council, and decide that they have to demand their freedom to leave Greece, with plentiful resources to do so, as Pandrasus would regain his strength and have them all killed if they remained. Pandrasus is then brought in, and threatened with a cruel death if he does not agree to this, in addition to giving Brutus the hand of his eldest daughter

in marriage. Pandrasus complies, offering to remain a hostage until they leave, and says that he was glad his daughter was to be married to such a great leader as Brutus.

Analysis

Pandrasus is one of several characters that appear to have been invented by Geoffrey for the ''Historia''. Academic Jacob Hammer suggests that he may have had in mind one of the two characters named

Pandarus Pandarus or Pandar (Ancient Greek: Πάνδαρος ''Pándaros'') is a Trojan aristocrat who appears in stories about the Trojan War. In Homer's ''Iliad'' he is portrayed as an energetic and powerful warrior, but in medieval literature he b ...

from

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: t ...

's ''

Aeneid The ''Aeneid'' ( ; la, Aenē̆is or ) is a Latin Epic poetry, epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Troy, Trojan who fled the Trojan_War#Sack_of_Troy, fall of Troy and travelled to ...

'' (29–19 BCE). One manuscript of the ''

Dares Phrygius Dares Phrygius ( grc, Δάρης), according to Homer, was a Trojan priest of Hephaestus. He was supposed to have been the author of an account of the destruction of Troy, and to have lived before Homer. A work in Latin, purporting to be a transla ...

'' () even spells the name Pandarus as "Pandrasus". Peter Roberts suggests that as other stories state that Pyrrhus took

Epirus sq, Epiri rup, Epiru , native_name_lang = , settlement_type = Historical region , image_map = Epirus antiquus tabula.jpg , map_alt = , map_caption = Map of ancient Epirus by Heinrich ...

, Pandrasus should therefore be considered according to this story to be king of Epirus, which would tally with the river Akalon mentioned in the story being the

. He continues by noting that as the events of Pandrasus are said to have taken place about eighty years after the

, it also matches the timeframe of other accounts of the expulsion of the Achaeans from the

Peloponnese The Peloponnese (), Peloponnesus (; el, Πελοπόννησος, Pelopónnēsos,(), or Morea is a peninsula and geographic regions of Greece, geographic region in southern Greece. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmu ...

around this time, which could have led them to build the "Spartan Castle" (Sparatinum) mentioned in the ''Historia'', possibly around Pandosia. Geoffrey reused the name Pandrasus later in the ''Historia'' as the name of the king of Egypt at the time of

King Arthur King Arthur ( cy, Brenin Arthur, kw, Arthur Gernow, br, Roue Arzhur) is a legendary king of Britain, and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain. In the earliest traditions, Arthur appears as a ...

. Scholars from the late nineteenth to mid-twentieth century who studied

Eustache Deschamps Eustache Deschamps (13461406 or 1407) was a French poet, byname Morel, in French "Nightshade". Life and career Deschamps was born in Vertus. He received lessons in versification from Guillaume de Machaut and later studied law at Orleans Univers ...

' ballad in praise of

Geoffrey Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer (; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for ''The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He wa ...

( on) interpreted a difficult line of the poem "" as meaning "for those ignorant of the tongue of Pandrasus". Later scholarship suggested that "a Pandarus for those ignorant of the language" was more likely, referring to

from Chaucer's ''

Troilus and Criseyde ''Troilus and Criseyde'' () is an epic poem by Geoffrey Chaucer which re-tells in Middle English the tragic story of the lovers Troilus and Criseyde set against a backdrop of war during the siege of Troy. It was written in '' rime royale'' an ...

'' ().

References

{{Geoffrey of Monmouth British traditional history Medieval legends Mythological kings