Prosopographia Palmyrena

Conception and Usage

Abstract

This paper aims to present the process of establishing and using a database containing the
prosopography gathered from the Corpus of Palmyrene Inscriptions. Therefore, a brief introduction to
Palmyra and its epigraphic heritage will be given first. Then, the method of collecting and sorting the
various data points will be explained. The problems of prosopographical identifications in Palmyra and
the Palmyrene diaspora will then be discussed, including issues such as similar names, conflicting genealogies,
missing provenance, inconsistent dating, and group affiliation. Finally, the essay proposes a
method of mass-group analysis that aims to both reconstruct social groups of Palmyra and then compare
those groups with other known Palmyrene groups.