The family's surname (erroneously spelled Παρσακουντηνός, Parsakountenos, in some manuscripts) derives from the locality of "Parsakoute" (Παρσακούτη).
[1] According to Arabic sources, in a battle at Hadath on 19 October 954 Theodoulos Parsakoutenos and one of his sons, either Bardas or the younger Nikephoros, were taken prisoner by the Hamdanid emir Sayf al-Dawla.
[1] The Parsakoutenoi supported the rebellion by his cousin Bardas Phokas the Younger against John I Tzimiskes (r. 969–976) in 970, based in Caesarea in Cappadocia.
[2] In the summer or autumn of 979, after Skleros had been defeated, several of his supporters remained defiant in the forts they controlled, from which they led raids.
Nikephoros was sent to the Thracesian Theme, where he persuaded Skleros' partisans to surrender on the promise of an amnesty from the emperor.