[1] The methodology of Roman prosopography involves defining a group for study—often the social ranking called ordo in Latin, as of senators and equestrians—then collecting and analyzing data.
Epigraphy and papyrology are sources that may also document ordinary people, who have been studied in groups such as imperial freedmen, lower-class families, and specific occupations such as wet nurses (nutrices).
[3] Matthias Gelzer, one of the founders of prosopographical methodology in relation to ancient Rome, focused on the social institution of patronage and its effects on the Roman political system.
Wiseman, who has studied in particular the careers and family lines of Romans from the municipia, towns outside Rome; E. Badian, particularly his 1965 work on the trial of Gaius Norbanus; Lily Ross Taylor; and Erich Gruen.
Brunt, have cautioned against an overreliance on prosopography, particularly the tendency to see court trials as "proxy wars" between political factions rather than as judicial proceedings in pursuit of just outcomes: even bitter enemies such as Cicero and Clodius Pulcher are recorded as testifying on behalf of the same party.