prosopography

[ pros-uh-pog-ruh-fee ]

noun

, plural pros·o·pog·ra·phies.

1. a study of a collection of persons or characters, especially their appearances, careers, personalities, etc., within a historical, literary, or social context.
2. a description of a person's appearance, career, personality, etc.

prosopography

/ ˌprɒsəpəˈɡræfɪkəl; ˌprɒsəˈpɒɡrəfɪ /

noun

1. a description of a person's life and career
2. the study of such descriptions as part of history, esp Roman history

Derived Forms

• prosopographical, adjective
• ˌprosopoˈgraphically, adverb
• ˌprosoˈpographer, noun

Other Words From

• proso·pogra·pher noun
• pros·o·po·graph·i·cal [pros-oh-p, uh, -, graf, -i-k, uh, l], adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of prosopography¹

C16: from New Latin prosopographia, from Greek prosōpon face, person + -graphy

Example Sentences

The new database is part of PASE, the snappily titled Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England, a decade-long academic compilation of all the Anglo-Saxons for whom any records survive, which already includes almost 20,000 individuals, just under 1,000 of them women.

From The Guardian

V.—I pardon this epitrope, but pray use less metaphor and more litotes in the prosopography you dedicate to my modest entity— J.—What will you?

From Project Gutenberg