A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

44. PISIDA (the PISIDIAN). The name of this writer occurs in the genitive case, in which it is commonly found, under the various forms, Πισσίδον, Πισίδου, Πισιδίου, Πησίδου, Πησίδη, Πισσίδους, Πισίδονς: in Latin it is written Pisides and Pisida He was, as his name indicates, a Pisidian by birth, and flourished in the time of the emperor Heraclius (who reigned from A. D. 610 to 641), and of the patriarch Sergius (who occupied the see of Constantinople from A. D. 610 to 639). In the MSS. of his works he is described as a deacon, and Χαροτοφύλαξ, Chartophylax, " record keeper," or Σκευοφύλαξ, Sceuophylax, " keeper of the sacred vessels," of the Great Church (that of St. Sophia) at Constantinople. By Nicephorus Callisti he is termed " Refendarius" (Ῥεφενδάριος a designation not equivalent, as some have supposed, to Chartophylax, but describing a different office. We have no means of determining if he held all these offices together or in succession, or if any of the titles are incorrectly given, He appears to have accompanied the emperor Heraclius in his first expedition Against the Persians, and to have enjoyed the favour both of that emperor and of Sergius, but nothing further is known of him.