Prosopography

e-ke-ra2-wo ≠ wa-na-ka: Possible implications of a non-identification for Pylian feasting and politics

by Vassilis Petrakis

L. A. Hitchcock, R. Laffineur and J. Crowley (eds.) Dais: The Aegean Feast. Proceedings of the 12th International Aegean Conference, University of Melbourne, Centre for Classics and Archaeology, 25-29 March 2008, AEGAEUM 29 (Annales d'archéologie égéenne de l'Université de Liège et UT-PASP), Liège et Austin 2008, pp. 391 - 400.

A duchy officer and a gentleman: The career and connections of Avery Cornburgh (d.1487)

by Robert E. Stansfield

P. J. Payton (ed.), Cornish Studies: Nineteen (Exeter: University of Exeter Press, 2011), pp. 9-34.
ISBN 978-0-85989-866-9.

Invisibles ou absents? Questions sur la présence kurde à Bagdad aux Ve-VIe/XIe-XIIe siècles / Invisible or absent? Kurds in Baghdad, 5th-6th/11th-12th centuries

by Vanessa Van Renterghem

During the 5th/11th c., scholars, mystics and militaries were coming to Baghdad from zones of Kurdish population. This... more During the 5th/11th c., scholars, mystics and militaries were coming to Baghdad from zones of Kurdish population. This phenomenon was even stronger during th 6th/12th c. Were these visitors or emigrants Kurds? They are not always identified as such by the medieval sources. This article tries to get a more precise image of Kurdish presence in Baghdad during these centuries. Kurds were part of Seljuqs and Abbasid armies, but also of troups serving local Iraqian rulers. They were emirs (like the powerful Hazārasb ibn Bankīr) as well as simple fighters. Arab chronicles also talk of Kurds as “non-Arab Bedouins” living in the steppa. But Kurds are more difficult to identify in civilian an urban spheres. Some families of Baghdadian scholars, judges or mystics, like the Suhrawardī and the Šahrazūrī, originated from the Kurdish areas, but it is usually not possible to determine their ethnicity. Such conclusions lead us to consider as relatively non pertinent ethnic designations in some contextes, like the urban and learned milieu.
Keywords: Kurds, Kurdistan, Baghdad, ethnicity, nisba, onomastic, prosopography, emirs, army, Seldjuqs, Abbasids, nomadism, sufism, Suhrawardī, Suhrawardî, Šahrazūrī, Shahrazûrî.

Au Ve/XIe siècle, la venue à Bagdad de personnages (lettrés, mystiques, militaires et autres) provenant des zones géographiques à fort peuplement kurde est attestée et s’intensifie même au cours du VIe/XIIe siècle. Ces personnages étaient-ils kurdes ? En l’absence d’identification formelle par les sources de l’époque, plusieurs domaines sont explorés ici afin de préciser la présence kurde à Bagdad au cours de cette période. Les Kurdes étaient présents dans les armées seldjoukides puis abbassides, mais aussi au service d’autres souverains irakiens, sous la figure d’émirs (comme le puissant Hazārasb ibn Bankīr) autant que de simples soldats. Les chroniques arabes les désignent également comme étant des Bédouins non-arabes de la steppe. Il est par contre plus difficile de les distinguer dans la sphère urbaine et civile. Plusieurs lignages de lettrés, de juges ou de mystiques bagdadiens, comme les Suhrawardī et les Šahrazūrī, étaient originaires de régions à fort peuplement kurde, sans que l’on puisse trancher de façon absolue quant à leur appartenance ethnique. Ces résultats nous conduisent à relativiser la pertinence de la désignation ethnique dans certains contextes, urbains et lettrés en particulier.
Mots-clés : Kurdes, Kurdistan, Bagdad, ethnicité, nisba, onomastique, prosopographie, émirs, armées, Seldjoukides, Abbassides, nomadisme, soufisme, Suhrawardī, Suhrawardî, Šahrazūrī, Shahrazûrî.

Towards a Mixed Method Social History: Combining Quantatitve and Qualitative Methods in the Study of Collective Biography

by Gidon Cohen

with Kevin Morgan and Andrew Flinn, in K.B.S. Keats-Rohan (ed.) A Guide to Prosopography (2008)

Although the possibility of mixing qualitative and quantitative research has excited considerable interest in a range... more Although the possibility of mixing qualitative and quantitative research has excited considerable interest in a range of academic disciplines, it has aroused limited discussion by historians. This article argues that reticence which stems from the limited and problematic material available to historians may be misplaced. Focussing on the new computerised methods in collective biography, the article begins by explaining how a database containing very partial biographical information about atypical individuals, containing large chunks of at most partially coded textual material, can be viewed as ‘structured qualitative data’. It then confronts scepticism about the analysis of such information from both qualitative and quantitative historians, arguing that using such a dataset can enhance qualitative investigation without preventing rigorous quantitative analysis. The article then investigates the significance of mixing methods in the context of ongoing debates about the nature of historical research. It argues that when appropriate techniques are used, historical explanations can be developed which are sensitive to complexity and subjectivity whilst remaining clear, precise and testable. Thus, it suggests, using mixed method approaches can take investigation beyond what is possible with either method individually, enabling historians to develop more satisfactory explanations of forms of association in the past.

Missing, Biased, and Unrepresentative: The Quantitative Analysis of Multisource Biographical Data

by Gidon Cohen

Historical Methods (2002)

With the growth in interest in collective biography as a historical technique, many predominantly qualitative... more With the growth in interest in collective biography as a historical technique, many predominantly qualitative historians find themselves faced with large amounts of information. These data, collected from a variety of sources, are often highly irregular, making statistical analysis extremely problematic. Current practice is to ignore these problems and proceed with quantitative analysis suitable only for much more regular data. It is argued that a more satisfactory approach is to ascertain and directly confront the difficulties of analyzing such information. The three central problems are identified as missing data, systematic bias, and the lack of a representative sample. Using a practical example, the author explores the relationship between gender, the family, and political socialization within the Communist Party of Great Britain and shows how each of the issues can be dealt with in turn. The author first distinguishes truly missing data from "negative information," which commonly appears to be missing in historical sources. He then stratifies the data to remove systematic biases relating to the issue at hand. Finally, he divides the sample into different populations, on the basis of the sources from which individuals are known, and compares the results obtained to examine whether his conclusions appear to depend on quirks of populations contained in the sources. These ideas open a new range of sources to quantitative analysis and raise the possibility of allowing new types of evidence to count in historical inquiry.

Propensity-Score Methods and the Lenin School

by Gidon Cohen

Journal of Interdisciplinary History (2005)

Although social scientists often use propensity-score methods to study databases that contain substantial amounts of... more Although social scientists often use propensity-score methods to study databases that contain substantial amounts of bias and missing information, these techniques have not been applied in the historical literature. This article uses propensity-score matching to investigate the impact of Moscow training on the selection of leadership cadres within Britain's Communist Party. These matching techniques can enable the quantitative analysis of a range of previously underutilized historical data.

Македонская аристократическая семья из Берои / A Macedonian Aristocratic Family from Beroia

by Yuri Kuzmin

(in Russian with an English Summary)

A Macedonian Aristocratic Family from Beroia

(Вестник древней истории / Bulletin of Ancient History, 3,... more A Macedonian Aristocratic Family from Beroia

(Вестник древней истории / Bulletin of Ancient History, 3, 2008, pp. 152–161)

Beroia, situated in western Bottiaia, was one of the most important cities of Macedonia. As Ch.F. Edson suggested, the Antigonid dynasty might have come from this city.

A number of persons named Harpalos and Polemaios are attested in Beroia in the Hellenistic and Roman periods (namely between the 240s B.C. and the 40s A.D):

1) Harpalos (248 B.C., EKM I.3);
2) Polemaios, son of Harpalos (223 B.C., EKM I.4);
3) Harpalos, son of Polemaios (178–172 B.C., Syll.3 II.636 v. 5; Diod. 29.34.1; Liv. 42.14.3; 15.1; App. Mac. 11.3);
4) Harpalos (the late 2nd – early 1st century B.C.);
5–6) Harpalos, son of Harpalos (41–44 A.D. EKM I.60).

The author argues that they all belonged to one family, which played an important role in Antigonids’ state and in the political life of Beroia, even after Macedonia became a Roman province.
Of all the Harpaloi attested in Beroia only one Harpalos, son of Python, known from an inscription on a sarcophagus (EKM I. 202, ca. 150–100 B.C.) cannot be easily connected with the family of Harpaloi–Polemaioi.

Obviously, the family of Harpaloi–Polemaioi could avoid the internment to Italy in 167 B.C. (according to the decree of L. Aemilius Paulus and the senate committee for Macedonian affairs, members of former royal administration of the last Antigonid Perseus and their children over 15 years old have to be interned – Liv. 45.32.3–6). By that time, Harpalos (3), son of Polemaios, could have died (as he was not mentioned after 172 B.C.), and thus his family was allowed to stay in Macedonia. This is most probable solution of the problem.

One can admit that the family in question was related in kinship with Antigonids (A.B. Tataki). But its relationship to Harpalos, treasurer of Alexander the Great, assumed by some scholars (W. Heckel et al.), seems to find no grounds, since the name Harpalos was quite frequent in Macedonia (LGPN IV. s.v. Harpalos, p. 47–48). There are no reasons to think that were links of kinship between the family of Harpaloi–Polemaioi from Beroia and Limnaios, son of Harpalos, who was granted land property in Kassandreia by king Lysimachos in the mid 280s B.C.

The case of Harpaloi–Polemaioi family is the only known example of an aristocratic family in Beroia, as well as in the whole of Macedonia, attested both under the kings and in the Roman time. It is particularly remarkable that this family did not lose its importance in the social life of its native city even after the Roman conquest of Macedonia.

Пантавх, сын Балакара из Берои, и его семья / Pantauchos, son of Balakros from Beroia, and his Family

by Yuri Kuzmin

(in Russian with an English Summary)

Pantauchos, son of Balakros from Beroia and his Family

(Вестник древней истории / Bulletin of Ancient... more Pantauchos, son of Balakros from Beroia and his Family

(Вестник древней истории / Bulletin of Ancient History, 3, 2010, pp. 135–140)

In the Hellenistic period literary and epigraphic sources attest in Beroia are several generation of another noble family. Its representatives bore the names of Pantauchos and Balakros.

1) Pantaushos, son of Balakros, priest of Asclepius (ca. 250–200 B.C.);
2) Pantaushos, son of Balakros, a diplomat and one of the closest philoi of the last Anigonid king Perseus. He was, probably, grandson of Pantauchos (1);
3) Balakros, son of Pantauchos (2). Was a hostage given to the Illyrian king Genthios, Perseus ally.

It was also suggested that Pantauchos, one of the best generals of Demetrios I Poliorketes could have been connected with the family from Beroia. This is not improbable, thought the name Pantauchos is attested in other Macedonian towns as well.
The fact that the members of the family in question (Pantauchoi-Balakroi) are not to be found in Antigonos III Doson and Philip V’s retinue makes it possible to suppose that the family became part of the court elite only under Perseus.

Evidently, Pantauchos (2) and his son Balakros were deported to Italy in 167 B.C. together with other philoi of Perseus and the Greek hostages.

According to F.W. Walbank’s hypothesis, Pantauchos and other philoi of Perseus living in Italy could have been Polybius’s informators in his description of the events which took place in the later part of Philip V’s reign and under his son (Polyb. 29. 8. 10).

Rev.: Paschidis P. Between City and King. Prosopographical Studies on the Intermediaries between the Cities of the Greek Mainland and the Aegean and the Royal Courts in the Hellenistic Period (322–190 BC). Athens, 2008

by Yuri Kuzmin

(in Russian)

Review of monograph of Paschalis Paschidis

(Studia historica, X, Moscow 2010, pp. 222-231) Review of monograph of Paschalis Paschidis

(Studia historica, X, Moscow 2010, pp. 222-231)

List of the mint officials managed in the database "Eligivs 2.1" (last update: March 11th 2012)

by Luca Gianazza

Eligivs is a database created in 2002, to manage the information related to all the mint workers. It is the sole... more Eligivs is a database created in 2002, to manage the information related to all the mint workers. It is the sole prosopography specifically dedicated to this topic.
Through user friendly interfaces it is easy to insert the private data of each character, the different job relationships in the different mints and the signs they used to mark the coins.
With the database it is possible to make complex searches or to analyze the movements of the workers from one mint to another. The results of the searches can be easily exported into printable reports.
The database now contains 6,769 names, 10,240 relations between workers and mints and 1,403 mint marks (last update: March 11th 2012).
This paper proposes an updated list of the names currently managed. The full information is available (by subscription) at the following address: http://www.sibrium.org/Eligivs/.

In Pursuit of Aristocratic Women: A Key to Success in Norman England

by R. C. DeAragon

Published in the journal Albion

Discussion of marital strategies of the aristocracy in England, 1066-1154, including recruitment through marriage,... more Discussion of marital strategies of the aristocracy in England, 1066-1154, including recruitment through marriage, marital alliances, and political advantage.

Dowager Countesses, 1069-1230

by R. C. DeAragon

Published in Anglo-Norman Studies XVII

An investigation of 58 widowed countesses to investigate marriage and remarriage, fertility, longevity, retirement and... more An investigation of 58 widowed countesses to investigate marriage and remarriage, fertility, longevity, retirement and burial choices, and relations with the crown.
This was the first major prosopographical study to focus on women of post-Conquest England and it overturned a number of assumptions about the lives of elite women of the period.

All the King's Men

by Matthew Hammond

Paradox of Medieval Scotland Feature of the Month for January 2010.

A Prosopographical Analysis of Society in East Central Scotland, with special reference to ethnicity, ca 1100 to ca 1260 (PhD thesis)

by Matthew Hammond

Archaeologists in Training: Students of the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem, 1920-1936

by Amara Thornton

This paper provides an introduction to a database of students at the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem between 1920 and 1936, covering the tenures of BSAJ Directors John Garstang and John Crowfoot.  It highlights possible uses for the data and discusses the need for prosopography in the history of archaeology, referencing other prosopographical projects in this burgeoning field.

Compiled in the process of doctoral research, this list of students at the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem... more Compiled in the process of doctoral research, this list of students at the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem covers the terms of the School’s first two directors, John Garstang and John Crowfoot. It has been gathered from the School’s Minute Books, now in the archive of the Palestine Exploration Fund, and from contemporary published reports in the Palestine Exploration Quarterly. By naming and enumerating the students at this institution, still in existence today, the diaspora of and networks inherent in archaeological training during the early years of professionalization become clear. The data also includes the background and education (where known) of these prospective archaeologists, an important factor in evaluating issues of gender, class and education in the history of the discipline.

Dreaming Hanbalites: Dream-Tales in Prosopographical Dictionaries

by Maxim Romanov

Romanov, Maxim. “Dreaming Ḥanbalites: Dream-Tales in Prosopographical Dictionaries.” In Dreams and Visions in Islamic Societies, edited by Özgen Felek and Alexander Knysh, 31-50. Albany N.Y.: State University of New York Press, 2012.

In Islam, like in many religious traditions, dreams are part and parcel of spiritual life. For centuries, Muslims have... more In Islam, like in many religious traditions, dreams are part and parcel of spiritual life. For centuries, Muslims have taken their dreams seriously, especially those Muslims who belonged to different mystical trends that found their place under the dome of Islam. Here, however, I address the dreams of the Hanbalites, a group that for decades has been almost unanimously treated by many students of Islam as the very opposite of Sufism. Nevertheless, despite their differences, the two groups share a fascination with dreams and make extensive use of them in their respective narratives. In fact, some local hagiographies show that a number of rural Hanbali shaykhs were treated by their followers as awliya' and miracle workers. Moreover, even normative prosopographical Hanbali sources are not devoid of what a Saudi editor of Tabaqat al-Hanabila called al-khurafat al-sufiyya, “Sufi superstitions.” Examples from both hagiographic and normative sources indicate that it is the very nature of relationship between revered shaykhs and their popular following that eventually casts the former as saint guardians of their communities. In other words, being a leader of a popular community, a shaykh of any persuasion is very likely to become a local saint. Dreams seem to be one of the mechanisms of the communal process of sanctification. This might be a reason why not all of the dreams passed the above mentioned editor’s test of “orthodoxy,” even though they are quite different from those of the Sufis, the alleged archenemies of the Hanbalites.

Anu-ah-tuqqin reconsidered

by Ronald Wallenfels

NABU 2006/08

A Short Manual to the Art of Prosopography (K. Verboven, M. Carlier), J. Dumolyn,

by Koenraad Verboven

KEATS-ROHAN Katharine S. B. (ed.), Prosopography Approaches and Applications. A Handbook, Oxford, Unit for Prosopographical Research (Linacre College), 2007 (Prosopographica et Genealogica ; 13), p. 35-70

A prosopography of the mint officials: the "Eligivs" database and its evolution

by Luca Gianazza

in "Proceedings of the XIVth International Numismatic Congress. Glasgow 2009", ed. by N. Holmes, Glasgow 2011, II, pp. 2021-2026

Many books and studies report a wide variety of data related to mint masters, engravers and other workers of the... more Many books and studies report a wide variety of data related to mint masters, engravers and other workers of the different mints. Generally, these data are presented without homogeneity inside the text or organized in simple lists. The increasing success of prosopographical studies applied to specific historical (e.g., "Prosopography of Angle-Saxon England"), geographical (e.g., "Montaillou", by E. Le Roy Ladurie) or social (e.g., "Les banquiers protestants", by H. Luethy) contexts suggests to start an analogous research project on the mint officials. Up to now, the word prosopography has been applied to the context of the mint officers by A. Stahl only in his works on the mint of Venice. Nevertheless, the field of interest is wider and should be extended to all the mints.
Eligivs is a database specifically built to collect the personal data of people who operated in mints, providing an easy access on the Internet for the remote inquiry. The database has been developed in order to organize homogeneously several kinds of data, from the biographical information (e.g., religion, education) to the role played in a specific mint, to the peculiar marks put on the coins. It proved to be a helpful tool to understand the volume of work and the distribution of roles inside a mint, to follow the movements of mint masters and engravers, to collect the pictures of the mint marks.
A full remote access is available at the following address: http://www.sibrium.org/en/Eligivs/.

Trois nouvelles inscriptions de la Macédoine septentrionale (Stuberra). Notes prosopographiques, dans REA, T. 111, 2009, n° 1, p. 115-125.

by Marija Stankovska-Tzamali

published in REA, T. 111, 2009, n° 1, p. 115-125.

The article presents three new honorific inscriptions from the ancient city of Stuberra, in Macedonia. The first was... more The article presents three new honorific inscriptions from the ancient city of Stuberra, in Macedonia. The first was set up by decision of the Assembly and the people of Stuberra and honours a certain Lysimachos. The second honours Septimia Sivanè Kelereinè, a member of a well-known Macedonian family, mentioned on inscriptions of Stuberra, Thessalonica, Béroia and Stobi. This family counted among its members macedoniarchs, a consular and a High-priestess of the imperial cult. The third inscription is of private character and was set up by three sons for their father, Orestes Philoxenos. This family is also well known from inscriptions of Stuberra and Heraclea Lyncestis. The new inscription sheds light on the family ties, adding a new member.