Pankratios 2 was the father of Ioannes 5 (John Grammatikos, iconoclast patriarch of Constantinople): Scriptor Incertus 349, 359. He is described as "skiastes": Scriptor Incertus 349 (υἱὸν Παγκρατίου τινος σκιαστοῦ). The word "skiastes" is said (in G. W. H. Lampe, A Patristic Greek Lexicon, (Oxford, 1961-68), p. 1239) to mean "umbrella-bearer". Perhaps it is connected with σκιάζω and indicates some form of artistic activity. It is certainly used pejoratively of Pankratios 2, to demean him, because his son was a notorious iconoclast. The family was in fact well-born; see Ioannes 5. On the difficulties in interpreting σκιαστής, see P. Lemerle, Byzantine Humanism: The First Phase (Canberra, 1986), p. 155, n. 110.

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