The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire

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The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire ( PLRE ) is the main prosopographical reference work dealing with the history of late antiquity . It is published by Cambridge University Press .

overview

Even Theodor Mommsen and Adolf Harnack had taken a similar project in the eye, the existing basic work, however, were largely destroyed during World War II as an Allied bombing raid, the Berlin archive this first prosopography of the late Roman Empire met. As Arnold Hugh Martin Jones , John Robert Martindale and John Morristaking up the idea again, they had to start all over again, almost from scratch. It began with a call that Jones made to professionals around the world to sift through the sources and send in supporting documents. Some well-known researchers then helped with the venture. Jones was also responsible for securing funding for the project. Next, the authors sifted through the rest of the sources; John Morris, for example, took care of the Latin inscriptions. Morris was also able to contribute his experience from working on the Prosopographia Imperii Romani . Next, the relevant articles were extracted from Pauly's Realencyclopedia of Classical Classical Studies , the sent in snippets of evidence were sorted and compared with the remains of the Berlin collections.

In 1964 work finally began on the actual articles in the first volume. Jones sketched most of the illustres , while John Martindale sketched articles about almost everyone else. In the end, Martindale went through Jones' articles and partially revised them; Jones did the same with Martindale's designs. Other articles were contributed by Alan Cameron (mainly writers) and Edward A. Thompson (Teutons).

The work comprises three volumes - the third volume was divided into two half volumes due to its size - which appeared between 1971 and 1992. Only John Martindale saw the completion of the last volume. Jones, whose work The Later Roman Empire (1964) is a standard work that has not been replaced to this day, was the head of the project until his death, for which Thompson, Cameron and finally Philip Grierson were subsequently responsible (alongside Martindale) . The mammoth project was financed by the British Academy , among others , while the University of Cambridge provided administrative support.

In terms of content, most of the well-known "secular" people who appear between about AD 260 and 641 in the sources available at the time the entries were created and who played a role are listed. However, due to tradition, the members of the upper class or well-known officials predominate. However, clergymen were deliberately not included. The group of people dealt with in the PLRE is not limited to Romans. Rather, Persians and “barbarians” (such as Goths , Vandals and Huns ) are also recorded as far as they appear in the Greco-Latin tradition, whereby the “geographical focus” of the volumes varies (in Volume 3, for example, Britain finds its Roman garrison troops at the beginning of the 5th century were withdrawn, hardly any attention).

The length of the individual posts is quite different. While the emperors are deliberately only dealt with very briefly, some people were given only a few lines, others again with several pages (for example the Eastern Roman general Belisarius in the third volume with 42 pages). In every entry, reference is made to the sources, and the offices held by the person treated are also listed. Sometimes reference is also made to some relevant standard works.

The PLRE , which also contains family trees, is an irreplaceable tool for opening up late Roman society.

Additions and corrections to the entries have been published in several specialist journals, such as Phoenix , Historia and the Journal of Late Antiquity .

Volumes

  • The Prosopography of the later Roman Empire. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1971-1992

literature

  • Ralph W. Mathisen: Fifteen Years of PLRE Compliments, Complaints and Caveats . In: Medieval Prosopography 7 (1986), pp. 1–37 [compilation and discussion of the reviews of the PLRE I u. II].
  • Ralph W. Mathisen: A Survey of Significant Addenda to PLRE In: Medieval Prosopography 8 (1987), pp. 5–30 [compilation of all important persons listed in PLRE Vol. II missing from the various Addenda articles].

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ For this company see Stefan Rebenich: Theodor Mommsen and Adolf Harnack. Science and politics in Berlin at the end of the 19th century . Berlin 1997, pp. 247-326.
  2. ↑ On the creation of the first volume cf. PLRE I, Foreword, pp. V – VII.
  3. ^ The time after 641 is dealt with in the prosopography of the Middle Byzantine period .
  4. ↑ These are dealt with in a separate French reference work: Prosopographie chrétienne du Bas-Empire , ed. by André Mandouze, Vol. 1 ff., Paris 1982 ff .; Discussion of vol. 2 .
  5. ↑ The part that deals with Gaul (up to the early 6th century) was later improved and supplemented by Heinzelmann, see Martin Heinzelmann, Gallische Prosopographie 260-527 . In: Francia Volume 10, 1982, pp. 531-718 ( online ).
  6. ^ Supplements: Timothy D. Barnes , Some Persons in the Historia Augusta , in: Phoenix 26 (1972), pp. 140-182; Timothy Barnes, More Missing Names (AD 260-395) , in: Phoenix 27 (1973), pp 135-155; Timothy Barnes, Another Forty Missing Persons (AD 260-395) , in: Phoenix 28 (1974), pp. 224-243; John R. Martindale, Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire. Addenda et corrigenda to Volume I , in: Historia 23 (1974), pp. 246-252; Barry Baldwin, Some Addenda to the Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire , in: Historia 25 (1976), pp. 118-121; John Martindale, Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire. Addenda et corrigenda to Volume I , in: Historia 29 (1980), pp. 474-497; Sergio Roda, Supplementi e correzioni alla PLRE, Vol. I , in: Historia 29 (1980), pp. 96-105; Barry Baldwin, Missing Persons. A look at PLRE II , in: Medieval Prosopography 2 (1981), pp. 1-9; Barry Baldwin, Some Addenda to the Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire , in: Historia 31 (1982), pp. 97-111; Ralph W. Mathisen, PLRE II. Suggested Addenda and Corrigenda , in: Historia 31 (1982), pp. 364-386; Timothy Barnes, Late Roman Prosopography. Between Theodosius and Justinian , in: Phoenix 37 (1983), pp. 248-270; Stefan Krautschick, remarks on PLRE II , in: Historia 35 (1986), pp. 121–124; Ralph Mathisen, Ten Office Holders. A Few Addenda and Corrigenda to PLRE , in: Historia 35 (1986), pp. 125-127; Ralph Mathisen, Some Hagiographical Addenda to PLRE , in: Historia 36 (1987), pp. 448-461; David Woods, Some Hagiographical Addenda to PLRE , in: Latomus 51 (1992), pp. 872-873; David Woods: Some Addenda to PLRE , in: Historia 42 (1993), pp. 122-125; Laniado Avshalo, Some Addenda to the Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire (Vol. II: 395-527) , in: Historia 44 (1995), pp. 121-128; Ralf Scharf, Addenda to PLRE II , in: Historia 45 (1996), pp. 127–128; Stefan Krautschick, Notes on PLRE III , in: Historia 45 (1996), pp. 252–256; Robert M. Frakes, Some late antique people: Addenda to PLRE I, in: Historia 47 (1998), pp. 378-381; Ralf Scharf, Relatives of the Theodosian Imperial House - a supplement to the PLRE , in: Historia 47 (1998), pp. 495-499; Stefan Krautschick, Dux Ara and other addenda to the PLRE , in: Historia 52 (2003), pp. 126–128; Mark Handley, One Hundred and Fifty-two Addenda to 'PLRE' from Gaul, Spain and Britain , in: Historia 54 (2005), pp. 93-105; Mark Handley, Two Hundred and Seventy-Four Addenda and Corrigenda to the Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire from the Latin-Speaking Balkans , in: Journal of Late Antiquity 3 (2010), pp. 113–157.