Social Networks in Byzantine Egypt

Social Networks in Byzantine Egypt

Giovanni Ruffini

This page is a public source for the data-sets used in my analyses of Oxyrhynchos and Aphrodito in Social Networks in Byzantine Egypt (SNBE). These data-sets were created for use with UCINET, a network analysis software package for the PC available here.

Oxyrhynchos

The data-set I employ to analyze the growth of the oikos of Flavius Apion in SNBE derives directly from Paola Pruneti’s 1981 topographic register of the Oxyrhynchite nome. I first presented analyses of an earlier version of this data-set in a paper entitled “New Approaches to Oxyrhynchite Topography” at the 24^th International Congress of Papyrologists in Helsinki in 2004. In the process of revising SNBE for publication, I altered that data-set somewhat, largely by replacing unread characters with an ‘x’ and by adding a tag that prevents UCINET from alphabetizing the data. (This is highly useful for preserving Greek alphabetical order.) The results were a new version of the data-set which I used throughout the final version of SNBE.

Aphrodito

The data-set I employ to analyze Byzantine Aphrodito in SNBE derives from V.A. Girgis’s 1938 prosopography of the village. While Girgis is highly flawed as a prosopography, I argue in SNBE that the data-set his prosopography creates is still a statistically valid approach to measuring the general contours of Aphrodito’s social networks. The reader will note that in almost every case I have preserved the Girgis numbering system in this data-set rather than provide the names of each villager. It is therefore necessary to use this data-set in coordination with a copy of Girgis at hand. Click here for a network visualization of that data-set.

Questions

In SNBE I try to provide a basic tutorial for beginners at network analysis, but even after several years of manipulating the data-sets given here, I still find myself easily confused when trying a new technique. Please feel free to email me at grr919 AT gmail DOT com with any questions you may have while exploring these data-sets.