The project was begun in the 1980s with the aim of completing the work on later Roman Empire and Byzantine prosopography begun by Theodore Mommsen in the 19th century and carried on by A.H.M.
The endeavor began in the 1980s with the intention of completing the research on later Roman Empire and Byzantine biography that had started by Theodore Mommsen in the 19th century and was further pursued by A.H.M.