prosopography

American  

[pros-uh-pog-ruh-fee] / ˌprɒs əˈpɒg rə fi /

noun

plural

prosopographies

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.

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prosopography British  

/ 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

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Other Word Forms

• prosopographer noun
• prosopographical adjective
• prosopographically adverb

Etymology

Origin of prosopography

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

Explanation

A prosopography is a collective study of a specific group of people. It's like a "collective biography" focusing on common traits or connections throughout the lives of a group, such as the rock stars of the 1970s. Prosopography originally meant the study of a person's physical appearance. But today, the word is almost exclusively used by historians to describe the study of the common characteristics among an entire class of people — e.g., the influential women who fought for a woman's right to vote in the 18th and 19th centuries. As opposed to biographies and autobiographies, which focus on one main person, prosopographies use the stories of many individual lives to tell a larger story about society.

Example Sentences

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 Prairie Farmer, Vol. 56: No. 3, January 19, 1884. A Weekly Journal for the Farm, Orchard and Fireside by Various