PISIDTA (Ilio-LS/a), a province of Asia Minor, hounded on the north by Phrygia, on the west by Caria and Lycia, on the south by Pamphylia, and on the east by Cilicia and Isauria (Strabo, xii., p. 569 ; "'to'. v. 5). It was a mountainous region ; but high up among the peaks of Taurus were some fertile valleys and little upland plains. The pro vince was subdivided into minute sections, and held by tribes of wild and warlike highlanders, who were the terror of the whole surrounding country (Strabo, I. c. ; Xen. Anab. i. 1, II ; ii. 5, 13). It was pro bably among the defiles of Pisidia that the apostle Paul experienced some of those perils of robbers,' of which he speaks in 2 Cor. xi. 26 ; and perhaps fear of the bandits that inhabited them had some thing to do with John's abrupt departure from Paul and Barnabas just as they were about to enter Pisidia (Acts xiii. 13, 14). The Pisidian tribes had rulers of their own, and they maintained their inde pendence, in spite of the repeated attacks of more powerful neighbours, and of the conquests of the Greeks, and even of the Romans. The latter were content to receive from them a scanty tribute, allowing them to remain undisturbed amid their mountain fastnesses.
The scenery of Pisidia is wild and grand. The mountains are mostly limestone, and are partially clothed with forests of oak, pine, and juniper. The lower slopes are here and there planted with oli% es, vines, and pomegranates. Many of the ravines are singularly grand—bare cliffs rising up a thousand feet and more on each side of the bed of a foaming torrent. In other places fountains gush forth, and streams brawl along amid thickets of oleander. The passes from the sea-coast to the interior are difficult, and have always been dangerous (Arun dell, Asia Minor, ii. ; Sir C. Fellows, Asia Minor: Spratt, Travels in Lycia; see also full extracts in Conybeare and Howson, Life of St. Paul, i. pp. 176, seq., and article ANTIOCH of Pisidia).
St. Paul paid two visits to Pisidia. In company with Barnabas he entered it from Pamphylia on the south, and crossed over the mountains to Antioch, which lay near the northern border (Acts xiii. Their mission was successful ; but the enemies of the truth soon caused them to be expelled from the province (ver. 50). After an adventurous journey through Lycaonia and Isauria, they again returned through Pisidia to Pamphylia, apparently by the same route (xiv. 21-24).—J. L. P.
PIT is the English rendering of at least four dis tinct Hebrew words—a fact which may account for its repeated and various use in the Bible.
1. Of these 113 (root cognate it:, beer, a well) occurs most frequently, and means a deep hole or pit, dug in the first instance for a well, but which, becoming dry or miry, was used apparently for three purposes :—(r.) As a place of sepulture
(Ps. xxviii. 1 ; xxx. 4 ; Is. xxxviii. 18), hence 162-3v, 'they that go down to the pit '—a phrase of frequent occurrence, employed sometimes to de note dying without hope ; but commonly, a simple going down to the place of the dead (sce Gesen. Lex., s.v.); also, the graves set in the sides of the pit' (Exod. xxxii. 23), the recesses cut out for purposes of burial ; or they might be the natural fissures in the rocks, abounding in all limestone formations, of which the rocks of Syria and Pales tine chiefly consist. (2.) A prison : shall be gathered as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up' (Is. xxiv. 22 ; also Jer. xxxvii. 16 ; Exod. xii. 29). The pit or dungeon was a com mon place of punishment in the East, and very dreadful it was, as the case of Jeremiah illustrates (Jer. xxxviii. 4, 9). To be doomed to the pit was often to be left to a slow death by starvation ; and to be saved from such a doom was regarded as the greatest of all deliverances. Hence it was used (3) as a place of destruction (Zech. ix. ii). In the case of Joseph, Reuben suggested the pit as a device for saving his brother ; the others hostile to Joseph adopted it as the most secret, and, they might think, the least guilty method of making away with him (Gen. xxxvii. 22-29).
2. nmi (root 1:11::), to sink down, to be stank into mire), literally a pit made by digging into the earth. Shachath was the kind of pit used as a snare. Covered over with the branches of a tree, or mat ting slight and deceptive, the pit was made to serve as a snare to entrap both animals and men. Used figuratively, it signified the sudden and con fused overthrow of evil men, and also their utter and final destruction (Job xxx. 18, 3. tqp (from an unused root t.44, to gather to gether), a fountain or cistern properly, but rendered pit in Is. xxx. 14. [CISTERN.] 4. rendered pit, Num. xvi. 30, 33 ; Job xvii. 16, and used to signify the shadowy place of disembodied spirits, is fully explained under HELL. is rendered pit in Eccles. x. 18, but occurs nowhere else. The bottomless pit' (rd cpp&Lp rijs ciptiaaov), repeatedly mentioned in the book of Revelation, is the place of Satan's punish ment. It is a prison or dungeon having a key. The time is foretold when the arch-deceiver will be bound in it with a chain (Rev. xx. I, 2). W. J. C.