British Academy: The UK's National Academy for the Humanities and Social Sciences

Proceedings of the British Academy, Volume 118

Fifty Years of Prosopography

The Later Roman Empire, Byzantium and Beyond

edited by Averil Cameron

Published 2003
for the British Academy by Oxford University Press

234 × 156 mm; 190 pages
hardback, ISBN 978-0-19-726292-4
How to Order volume from OUP

This is 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 possible to 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 central role 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 potential for future research.

The volume 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.

Readership: Scholars and students of prosopography, the later Roman Empire and Byzantium

The volume is edited by Averil Cameron, Professor of Late Antique and Byzantine History, University of Oxford, and a Fellow of the British Academy.

The volume arises from a conference held in September 2000.

CONTENTS

• Preface

1. J R Martindale, The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, Volume I: A Memoir of the Era of A. H. M. Jones
2. Werner Eck, The Prosopographia Imperii Romani and Prosopographical Method
3. Ralph W Mathisen, The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
4. Paul Magdalino, Prosopography and Byzantine Identity

1. Thomas Pratsch, Exploring the Jungle: Hagiographical Literature between Fact and Fiction
2. Jean-Michael Carrié, The Contribution of Papyri to the Prosopography of the Ancient World: Evaluation and Prospects
3. Werner Seibt, Seals and the Prosopography of the Byzantine Empire

1. Wolfram Brandes, Orthodoxy and Heresy in the Seventh Century: Prosopographical Observations on Monotheletism
2. Evangelos Chrysos, Romans and Foreigners
3. Jean-Claude Cheynet, Official Power and Non-Official Power

1. Janet L Nelson, David A E Pelteret, Harold Short, Medieval Prosopographies and the Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England

• Index