The ', abbreviated ''PIR'', is a collective historical work to establish the

prosopography Prosopography is an investigation of the common characteristics of a group of people, whose individual biographies may be largely untraceable. Research subjects are analysed by means of a collective study of their lives, in multiple career-line an ...

of high-profile people from the

Roman empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterr ...

. The time period covered extends from the

Battle of Actium The Battle of Actium was a naval battle fought between a maritime fleet of Octavian led by Marcus Agrippa and the combined fleets of both Mark Antony and Cleopatra VII Philopator. The battle took place on 2 September 31 BC in the Ionian Sea, nea ...

in 31 BC to the reign of

Diocletian Diocletian (; la, Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus, grc, Διοκλητιανός, Diokletianós; c. 242/245 – 311/312), nicknamed ''Iovius'', was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Gaius Valerius Diocles ...

. The final volume of the second edition, ''PIR²'', vol. IX, V–Z, appeared in November 2015.

History

The first edition was rapidly achieved and published in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

in the line of the great works of scholarship from the

historical school of economics The historical school of economics was an approach to academic economics and to public administration that emerged in the 19th century in Germany, and held sway there until well into the 20th century. The professors involved compiled massive econ ...

which had been successful in achieving the project of a corpus of all the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

inscriptions, the ''

Corpus inscriptionum latinarum The ''Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum'' (''CIL'') is a comprehensive collection of ancient Latin inscriptions. It forms an authoritative source for documenting the surviving epigraphy of classical antiquity. Public and personal inscriptions throw ...

''. Led by Elimar Klebs, Hermann Dessau and Paul von Rohden,Jean Maurin, ''La prosopographie romaine : pertes et profits'', ''Annales. Économies, Sociétés, Civilisations'', 37th year, N. 5-6, 1982. pp. 824-836.

p. 835 note 23 the first edition of the ''PIR'' was edited in three volumes from 1897 to 1898. The implementation of a second edition was last updated in 1933 for publication in Berlin. The first booklet of the second edition was led by

Edmund Groag Edmund Groag (2 February 1873, in Prerau – 19 August 1945, in Vienna) was an Austrian classical scholar, who specialized in Roman history. From 1892 he studied history and philology at the University of Vienna, receiving his doctorate in 18 ...

and

Arthur Stein Arthur Stein may refer to: * Arthur Stein (political scientist) * Arthur Stein (historian) Arthur Stein (10 June 1871, in Vienna – 15 November 1950, in Prague) was an Austrian-Czech historian and epigrapher. From 1892 to 1897 he studied his ...

who brought together the letters A and B. The publication was interrupted by

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

while working on the letter F (1943). From 1952 they took the direction of Stein and then

Leiva Petersen Leiva Petersen (28 November 1912 - 17 April 1992) was a German classical philologist and publisher. Life Leiva Konstanze Petersen was born in Berlin. Her father, Carl Petersen (1885–1942) was originally from Hviding in Northwest Schleswig. ...

. After German unification the project found a new dynamic. It was from then on led by K. Wachtel. The fascicle concerning the letter S was then published in 2006, and T in 2009. The index of names and people integral to the ''PIR'' was in the meantime made searchable on the website of the ''PIR''.''PIR'' website (German)
/ref> Volume 2 of the ''PIR'' includes notes for all the well-known

Roman senators The Roman Senate ( la, Senātus Rōmānus) was a governing and advisory assembly in ancient Rome. It was one of the most enduring institutions in Roman history, being established in the first days of the city of Rome (traditionally founded in ...

, the

nobles Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The characteristi ...

, and some civil servants not of equestrian rank, such as

manumitted Manumission, or enfranchisement, is the act of freeing enslaved people by their enslavers. Different approaches to manumission were developed, each specific to the time and place of a particular society. Historian Verene Shepherd states that ...

imperial freedmen who are attested in the literary tradition. Entries in the ''PIR'' are indexed by the initial letter of the name, then by the number of the entry, i.e.

Tiberius Claudius Pompeianus Tiberius Claudius Pompeianus ( 125 – 193 AD) was a politician and military commander during the 2nd century in the Roman Empire. A general under the Emperor Marcus Aurelius, Pompeianus distinguished himself during Rome's wars against the Part ...

corresponds to the entry PIR² C 973: the 973rd entry under the letter C. For periods after the third century which the ''PIR'' does not cover, there is ''

Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire ''Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire'' (abbreviated as ''PLRE'') is a work of Roman prosopography published in a set of three volumes collectively describing many of the people attested to have lived in the Roman Empire from AD 260, the date ...

'' by

A.H.M. Jones Arnold Hugh Martin Jones FBA (9 March 1904 – 9 April 1970) (known as A. H. M. Jones or Hugo Jones) was a prominent 20th-century British historian of classical antiquity, particularly of the later Roman Empire. Biography Jones's best-known wor ...

, J.R. Martindale, and John Morris.

References

Bibliography

* ''Prosopographia Imperii Romani Saec I. II. III'' (first edition). Berlin, 1897-1898. * ''Prosopographia Imperii Romani Saec I. II. III'' (second edition). Berlin, 1933-2015. *

A. H. M. Jones Arnold Hugh Martin Jones FBA (9 March 1904 – 9 April 1970) (known as A. H. M. Jones or Hugo Jones) was a prominent 20th-century British historian of classical antiquity, particularly of the later Roman Empire. Biography Jones's best-known wor ...

, J. R. Martindale, J. Morris, ''

'', Cambridge, 1971-1992 *

Werner Eck Werner Eck (born 17 December 1939) is Professor of Ancient History at Cologne University, Germany, and a noted expert on the history and epigraphy of imperial Rome.Eck, W. (2007) ''The Age of Augustus''. 2nd ed. Oxford: Blackwell, cover notes. His ...

: ''The Prosopographia Imperii Romani and Prosopographical Method''. In:

Averil Cameron Dame Averil Millicent Cameron ( Sutton; born 8 February 1940), often cited as A. M. Cameron, is a British historian. She was Professor of Late Antique and Byzantine History at the University of Oxford, and the Warden of Keble College, Oxford ...

(Hrsg.): ''Fifty Years of Prosopography. The Later Roman Empire, Byzantium and Beyond''. University Press, Oxford 2003, S. 11–22, (Proceedings of the British Academy, 118).

External links

Website for ''PIR²''
{{Authority control Prosopography of ancient Rome History books about ancient Rome 19th-century Latin books 20th-century Latin books

History

References

Bibliography

Further reading

External links