#prosopography

[mybuddyjimmy]

Prosopography

Prosopography [prah-sə-PAH-ɡrə-fee] Part of speech: noun Origin: Latin, late 16th century 1. A description of a person’s social and family connections, career, etc., or a collection of such descriptions. Examples of prosopography in a sentence  “The sociologist used the prosopographies of different groups to study larger trends.”  “My grandmother traced our family’s genealogy, and I used her…

[catilinas]

[martinjost]

Reise durch mein Bücherregal 📚

v.l.n.r.: Akademie der Wissenschaften der DDR (Hrsg.), «Prosopographia Imperii Romani» (UB -+)

#01164 · Dank diesem Werk wissen wir endlich, wie die „DDR“ auf Latein hieß, denn seine Herausgeberin ist die Academia Scientarum Rei Publicae Democraticae Germanicae.

Die Prosopographie ist eine historische Hilfswissenschaft, die einzelne Personen identifiziert und alle Spuren, die es über diese Individuen in den alten Quellen gibt, zusammenträgt. Sie befasst sich also nicht gerade mit Staatsmännern und Feldherren, über die die Zeitgenossen Bücher geschrieben haben, sondern über Nebenfiguren der Geschichte, die eventuell nur in einem Steuerbescheid auftauchen und dann wieder auf einem Grabstein. Oder in einer einzigen schriftlichen Quelle als Nebenfigur. Bei der Prosopographie handelt es sich also um die mühseligste Fleißarbeit, bei der ganz langsam biografische Daten zu Nachschlagewerken zusammengetragen werden. Das sieht man schon daran, über wie viele Jahrzehnte sich die Erscheinungsdaten der einzelnen Bände dieses Werks erstrecken.

Die bloße Existenz dieses Spezialfachs hat mich als Student der Alten Geschichte endlos fasziniert und als ich antiquarisch auf zwei günstige Bände einer Prosopographie des Römischen Reichs vom 1. bis zum 3. Jahrhundert gestoßen bin, habe ich sie in meine Büchersammlung aufgenommen. Die Nutzer*innen dieses Werks gehören einer kleinen Nische an, die ohnehin fließend Latein liest, so dass die beiden Bände 1983 bzw. 1987 in Latein verfasst sind – einschließlich Vorwort. Die Ränder der Bögen sind nicht sauber beschnitten, man muss die Seiten mit einem Brieföffner trennen, bevor sie sich aufblättern lassen. Trotz der mittelmäßigen Verarbeitung betrug der Neupreis (ausweislich der Reihen-Übersicht auf der Buchrückseite) um die 100,– D-Mark. Typische Abnehmerinnen waren wohl wissenschaftliche Bibliotheken, die die Bücher ohnehin als erstes zum Buchbinder geschickt hätten.

Wenn ihr zufällig Marcus Nummius Albinus heißt und auf der Suche nach einem Vorfahren seid, fragt mich ruhig – ich kann ihn in meinem Adressbuch nachschlagen (Pars V Fasciculus 3, No. 230).

[sheikahwarriork]

nobody will understand this but: FUCK YOU CUSAS 30 by van soldt

[ceruleanvulpine]

the big theorypost. spoilers for both volumes of misericorde

maybe this goes without saying, maybe not: i think tatiana is A Catherine. firstly, because of the law of conservation of mystery women*. but also she describes herself as a dilettante, and is clearly a matched set with he/him eustace (2stace). they're actually labeled as eustace2 and her2 in the script. eustace and catherine, of course, were unexpectedly close and worked together in the library. which is relevant because...

tatiana and 2stace are on some reality warping storyteller shit. this is pretty clear from their conversation, i think. the most obvious example of it in action is that tatiana describes the IRA-assassination-plot thriller to alex, who then finds herself inside it. alex's narration talks about going along with jim because it "feels right", which is plausibly not mind control, except tatiana also becomes an old friend and/or boss of everyone else she meets.

are tatiana and 2stace the *same people* as catherine and eustace, or versions of them? at first i thought alex was A Flora and jim was A [The Farmer] but that doesn't seem as one-to-one. in 1983 they're both immediately off-putting, whereas in 1483 eustace is capable of acting normal-ish, but maybe it was just 500 years of existing outside the narrative??

evidence for 1483 eustace and catherine having reality-altering powers and/or being aware of the narrative: the shelves. eustace's references to things she can't explain. catherine having visions of music/poetry/social movements/things they Need To Do. the presence or absence of goats. catherine's chronicles are mentioned but not there; meanwhile eustace chronicles darcy's visions, which include Books and Fire Goat, and won't let anyone see them.

There Are Two Swords. 2stace and tatiana are philosophically opposed. eustace (1483) talks about preferring not to interfere with people, 2stace (1983) is a stickler for accuracy, mad about liberties taken with katherine's (in nunleft) and jim's (in prosopography) stories. meanwhile tatiana loves spoilers, mocks 2stace for not being able to enjoy his own fantasies, and "loathe[s] the tyranny of continuity."

so i guess my reach-iest theory is that eustace and catherine, in 1483, are both to some extent able to alter the story / the reality they are in, and approach it differently. eustace is not interfering, whereas catherine is flitting around trying to bring out the hidden potential of the nuns and (checks notes) trying to kill someone and change the course of history? i don't know enough about the war of the roses for this.

what catherine was doing "got her killed," but eustace also refers to james as a "solution to a problem i let get out of hand". eustace could have been involved (metafictionally??) without actually doing the deed.

in fact one of the swords killed catherine and the other is wielded by the demon.

so.. maybe... catherine is killed, but still present, possibly involved in the ghost sightings that *aren't* eustace (and it would be thematically appropriate for her demon to be a magic terror while eustace's is created by dressing up in armor) and the magic circles. either she or eustace is the devil james saw (who spoke with a woman's voice). eustace is trying to keep the story on track and struggling with hedwig, but hedwig isn't her real enemy. (has hedwig stepped into a role somehow by picking up catherine's job? or is she just totally mundane and lost. poor thing.)

but also this sounds crazy so WHO KNOWS.

P.S. it's so goddamn funny that tatiana asks alex about 15th century metallurgy. girl are you trying to catch your stickler friend in an inaccuracy? cinemasins ding?

*umineko has never followed the law of conservation of mystery women, ever, except in the ways that it does

[catoswound]

so joseph geiger finds eight anecdotes of possible servilii caepiones men in the first century bce in rome and absolutely murders his audience with this terrible diagram after thirteen pages of prosopography. and brutus is here somewhere

[jeannereames]

Prosopography R Us! Fun with Hephaistion's allies and enemies at the court of Alexander.

[the-mediaeval-monk]

This website is so good if you need Old English names. PASE my beloved.

[caesarsaladinn]

the oxford dictionary of byzantium seems to be at odds with some of these prosopographies, which are further at odds with the book of ceremonies. youch

[lionofchaeronea]

Current nonfiction reading is Hadrian: The Restless Emperor by Anthony Birley. It's a compelling biography of a complex and elusive figure, one of the most interesting (I think) of all the emperors. The literary sources for Hadrian's life and reign are nowhere near as good as we would like them to be--with Cassius Dio existing only in epitome for that period, we're thrown back on the always problematic Historia Augusta--but Birley is virtuosic at making sense of what evidence we do have, whether textual, epigraphic, or numismatic. He argues for Hadrian's love of Greek culture as a defining feature of his personality, while also pointing out that there were precedents for such attitudes in the reigns of Nero and Domitian--both of whom, like Hadrian himself, had poor relations with the Senate. Even if one sometimes gets bogged down in detail--be prepared for a crash course in prosopography as you try to follow the careers of Hadrian's many friends and foes--it's still well worth reading.

(I have only one real complaint. This volume, like its fellows in Routledge's series of imperial biographies, uses endnotes. I hate endnotes. Why, oh why, can't we use footnotes instead?)

[garland-on-thy-brow]

Prosopographying a play by Jean Racine. Because of lesbianism.

[catominor]

need to write l. furius camillus prosopography...

[catilinas]

tried to open my indexes to the works of ronald syme pdf and my entire laptop crashed. yay

[woodsteingirl]

does prosopography take ridiculous amounts of time effort and patience? yes. do we need more of it in the history world because it is actually ä ridiculously helpful research method that is underutilized in non-classics environments? YES!!

[wildcarrdz]

domino glazer ... google doc ✦ pinterest ✦ spotify

her walls  are  up — it’s  all  a  facade  ... say  hello  to  the  wildcard.

this  is  just  the  og  app  ..  need  to  put  it  somewhere !!

  \̲\̲  jodie  comer,  cis  woman  +  she  /  her  ] ⠀★ ,   no   way,   haven’t   you   ever   heard   of   domino   glazer?   perhaps   you   know   them   best   as   wildcard  spotted   under   new   york's   city   lights,   i’ve   heard   they’re   a   blackjack  dealer  &  croupier  at the halcyon  /  soldier   that’s   protected   by   the  morenos,   spilled   blood   for   loyalty   is   thicker   than   water.   the   rumour   goes   that   the   thirty   year   old   is   known   to   be   enigmatic   and   volatile,   yet   deft   and   adaptable.   it’s   wrath   that’s   their   biggest   vice,   but   hey,   what   do   i   fuckin’   know?   their   favourite   song   on   the   job   is   blue   monday   by   new   order   and   are   never   seen   without   a  weathered  polaroid  of  a tightrope  walker  beaming  from  great  heights,   hard   to   believe   in   superstition   in   such   a   godless   city.   ask   the   right   people   and   they’ll   tell   you   that   they   remind   them   of:   studying   a   reflection   unfamiliar   in   the   remnants   of   a   smashed   mirror   as   you   embody   the   elegant   poise   and   echo   the   saccharine   tone   of   an   old   hollywood   starlet   gracing   the   screen   of   a   tiny   black-and-white   television   ;   rusted   can   tipped   on   its   side   —   potent   trail   creeping   up   on   a   lone   house   swallowed   whole   by   the   glow   of   dastardly   flames   ;    hand-bound   notebook   penned   with   aliases   and   elaborate   prosopographies   tucked   beneath   a   floorboard   concealed   by   an   ornate   rug   rich  in   ruby   &   gold     /   amy   dunne   (gone   girl),   jack   wilder   (now   you   see   me),   debbie   ocean   (ocean’s   8),   sarah   manning   (orphan   black).   so   whatever   you   do,   and   may   vengeance   have   mercy   on   you,   do   not   fuck   with   them.

[une-sanz-pluis]

All members of the Commons in 1450 would have had memories of Duke Humphrey of Gloucester and his duchess, Eleanor Cobham. When Duchess Eleanor was found guilty of witchcraft, the Stanley cousins had been among those keeping her in custody, and [of the twenty-nine persons accused of misgoverning Henry VI's person and desired to be exiled] Thomas Pulford, Bartholomew Halley, and Dr. Somerset had been involved in her case. Humphrey of Gloucester was already being thought of in some quarters as “Good Duke Humphrey,” and Thomas Pulford, Sir Thomas Stanley, and Bartholomew Halley had been participants in his arrest in 1447. Humphrey died suddenly when placed under arrest during a session of parliament and, while he may have died of natural causes brought on by stress, it was thought by some that he had been murdered. There were mutterings in 1450 that Pulford and Halley had drowned the duke. Five of the exiles benefited from Humphrey’s death: Sir Thomas and John Stanley, Edward Grimston, Thomas Pulford, and John Somerset.

Compton Reeves, "The 1450 Purge of the English Royal Circle", Medieval Prosopography, 2018, Vol. 33