PISIDIA, the name given to a country in the south of Asia, Minor, immediately north of Pamphylia, by which it was sepa rated from the Mediterranean, while it was bounded on the north by Phrygia, on the east by Lycaonia, Isauria and Cilicia, and on the west and southwest by Lycia and a part of Phrygia. It was a rugged and mountainous district occupied by wild and law less races of mountaineers. The Pisidians are not mentioned by Herodotus, either among the nations that were subdued by Croesus, or among those that furnished contingents to the army of Xerxes. They furnished a pretext to the younger Cyrus for levying the army with which he designed to subvert his brother's throne, while he pretended to put down the Pisidians who were continually harassing the neighbouring nations by their lawless forays (Xen. Anab. i. I, I I, etc.). They assume a more prominent part in the history of Alexander the Great, to whose march through their country they opposed a determined resistance. In Strabo's time they had passed under the Roman dominion, though still governed by their own petty chiefs.
Notwithstanding its rugged and mountainous character, Pisidia contained in ancient times several considerable towns, the ruins of which exist. The most important are Termessus, near the frontier of Lycia, a strong fortress in a position of great natural strength, and commanding one of the principal passes into Pam phylia ; Cremna, another mountain fortress, north of the preced ing, impending over the valley of the Cestrus; Sagalassus, a little farther north, a large town in a strong position, the ruins of which are among the most remarkable in Asia Minor, and Antioch, known for distinction's sake as Antioch of Pisidia, and cele brated for the visit of St. Paul. This was situated in the extreme
north-east of the district immediately on the frontier of Phrygia, between Lake Egerdir and the range of the Sultan Dagh and was reckoned in the Greek and earlier Roman period, e.g., by Strabo, as a city of Phrygia.
We have no clue to the ethnic character and relations of the Pisidians, except that we learn from Strabo that they were dis tinct from the neighbouring Solymi, who were probably a Semitic race, but we find mention at an early period in these mountain districts of various other tribes, as the Cabali, Milyans, etc., of all which, as well as the neighbouring Isaurians and Lycaonians, the origin is wholly unknown, and in the absence of monuments of their languages must remain so.