The heyday of the Prosopographia Imperii Romani is over
[From https://www.academia.edu/8653152/The_Prosopographia_Imperii_Romani_and_New_trends_and_Projects_in_Roman_Prosopography. Documentation: Horster, Marietta, The Prosopographia Imperii Romani (PIR) and NewTrends and Projects in Roman Prosopography Prosopography Approaches and Applications in A Handbook (Prosopographia et Genealogica, Band 13), edited by K. Keats-Rohan, University of Oxford Linacre College Unit for Prosopographical Research, Oxford 2007]
Conclusion
The heyday of the Prosopographia Imperii Romani is over, not only due to the lack of money for a third edition, but also because of the necessity for a different organization and presentation of the information in the future – be it a book or be it in combination with a database on CD-ROM or on the internet and in any language whatsoever.We all hope that a time will come when someone will be able to finance a new way to present and update a prosopography of the Roman Empire.In the meantime many interesting projects of prosopographical studies of the Roman Empire will be published. Revised lists and prosopographies of offices and duties will emerge; the lower ranks of offices and of the army will be the subject of studies similar to the 800-page volume on the centurions of the legions of the Roman Rhine army,which was published by Olivier Richier in 2004.
In present-day Spain and Greece as well as in other countries, there are counter-movements to the domination of Classics by the former great powers Great Britain,France, Germany and Italy, and there is also a nationalist trend against the European Union. Furthermore, and connected with the just mentioned phenomena, there is a general movement towards smaller units and regionalism as subjects for studies in ancient history studies as a backlash against the dominating imperialism/Romanism debate of recent decades. This quest for strong regional and national identities in contemporary society will ensure that prosopographical studies with regional foci will continue to be pursued in the years to come.
