Leo the Deacon
According to several Byzantine sources, Peter was originally a servant or member of the personal retinue of Nikephoros II Phokas. The exact relationship is unclear; although he is termed a slave, it is more likely that he was simply a manservant. Due to a mistranslation of a passage by Zonaras, he has been sometimes erroneously identified as a member of the Phokas clan and is known in some modern works as "Peter Phokas". Although a eunuch, Peter proved himself a strong warrior, and his abilities as a general are uniformly praised in contemporary accounts. The historian Leo the Deacon writes that he "abounded in bodily strength" and records that he once defeated in single combat the leader of a "Scythian" (Rus' or Magyar) warband in Thrace. Nothing is known of his early life and career, but he may have held the post of "epi tes trapezes" (master of the table) as Arab sources call him "al-Aṭrābāzī" and "aṭ-Ṭrabāzī".