Fifty Years of Prosopography The Later Roman Empire, Byzantium and Beyond

by Cameron, Averil

• ISBN13: 9780197262924
• ISBN10: 0197262929
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-09-25
• Publisher: British Academy

Summary

This book presents the first interdisciplinary discussion by leading international historians of the important methodological tool known as prosopography - the collection of all known information about individuals within a given period. With the advent of computer technology it is now possibleto gather and store such information in increasingly sophisticated and searchable databases, which can bring a new dimension to traditional historical research. The book surveys the transition in prosopographical research from more traditional methods to the new technology, and discusses the centralrole of the British Academy, as well as that of French, German and Austrian academic institutions, in developing prosopographical research on the Later Roman Empire, Byzantium and now Anglo-Saxon and other periods. The contributions discuss both national histories of the discipline and its potentialfor future research. The book demonstrates mutual benefits and complementarity in such studies between the use of new technology and the highest standards of traditional scholarship, and in doing so it sets forth new perspectives and methodologies for future work.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	vii
Notes on Contributors	viii
Abbreviations	x
Preface	xiii
Part I Prosopography: Rome and Byzantium
1. The Proposography of the Later Roman Empire, Volume I: A Memoir of the Era of A.H.M. Jones	3	(8)
J.R. MARTINDALE
2. The Prosopographia Imperii Romani and Prosopographical Method	11	(12)
WERNER ECK
3. The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow	23	(18)
RALPH W. MATHISEN
4. Prosopography and Byzantine Identity	41	(18)
PAUL MAGDALINO
Part II Byzantium and Prosopography: Definitions and Methodologies
Dealing with the Sources
5. Exploring the Jungle: Hagiographical Literature between Fact and Fiction	59	(14)
THOMAS PRATSCH
6. The Contribution of Papyri to the Prosopography of the Ancient World: Evaluation and Prospects	73	(22)
JEAN-MICHEL CARRIÉ
7. Seals and the Prosopography of the Byzantine Empire	95	(8)
WERNER SEIBT
Prosopography and Identity
8. Orthodoxy and Heresy in the Seventh Century: Prosopographical Observations on Monotheletism	103	(16)
WOLFRAM BRANDES
9. Romans and Foreigners	119	(18)
EVANGELOS CHRYSOS
10. Official Power and Non-Official Power	137	(18)
JEAN-CLAUDE CHEYNET
Part III Other Worlds
11. Medieval Prosopographies and the Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England	155	(14)
JANET L. NELSON, DAVID A.E. PELTERET AND HAROLD SHORT
Index	169