Editing Prosopography (section)

==Data in prosopographical research==
A certain mass of data is required for prosopographical research.<ref>The classic early example of prosopography was the series of volumes of ''Prosopographia Imperii Romani'', edited by P. von Rohden and H. Dessau (Berlin), appearing from 1897, which amassed a database covering the governing class of the Roman [[Principate]].</ref> The collection of data underlies the creation of a prosopography and, in contemporary research, this is usually in the form of an electronic database. But data assembly is not the goal of the research; rather, the objective is to understand patterns and relationships by analysing the data. A uniform set of criteria needs to be applied to the group in order to achieve meaningful results. And, as with any historical study, understanding the context of the lives studied is essential.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}

In the words of prosopographer [[Katharine Keats-Rohan]], "prosopography is about what the analysis of the sum of data about many individuals can tell us about the different types of connection between them, and hence about how they operated within and upon the institutions—social, political, legal, economic, intellectual—of their time".<ref>Keats-Rohan 2000, p. 2.</ref>

In this sense prosopography is clearly related to, but distinct from, both [[biography]] and [[genealogy]]. While biography and prosopography overlap, and prosopography is interested in the details of individuals' lives, a prosopography is more than the plural of biography. A prosopography is not just any collection of [[biographies]]. The lives of the research subjects must have enough in common for relationships and connections to be uncovered. Genealogy, as practiced by family historians, has as its goal the reconstruction of familial relationships, and as such, well-conducted genealogical research may form the basis of a prosopography.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}