Simple Searches

To find all the people in PBE I (641-867) who

• held a particular office or title, look for that office or title in the career/titles index;
• were ascribed a particular ethnicity, look for that ethnicity in the ethnicity index;
• were mentioned in a particular source, find the source in the textual sources index;

and similarly for the other indexes. The results will be displayed in the left section of the screen; individual records can be viewed on the right.

Complex Searches

More than one option can be combined in one search.

Time constraints can be placed on searches using the Floruit selection.

A simple search under 'Strategos' produces a long list; specifying a period (e.g. late eighth century to mid ninth century) makes the listing more meaningful.

• From the home page, using the Career Titles index, scroll down and select 'Strategos'; when the system has produced the list
• Click in the tick box to the right of the word 'Strategos'
• Select the drop-down 'Go to:' menu on the right of the wine-dark red banner header (use the scroll bar on the right to make the 'Go to:' menu re-appear
• Click on 'Refining your Search'. The screen will clear and reload, now with one small tick box on the left of the wine-dark red-banner header labelled 'Strategos'
• Tick the tick box (this is how refinements to searches are activated)
• Then on the right-hand side of the wine-dark red banner header, use the 'Earliest' and 'Latest' boxes beneath the 'Go to:' menu to add in the desired limits in time, in this case: LVIII (for late-eighth century) and MIX (for mid-ninth century)
• Then use the 'and' selection

The individuals attested as 'strategoi' for the period chosen will appear in the left hand column; individual records can be selected and examined on the right.

More complex combinations can be built up, combining the 'or', 'and' or 'not' options. The results will appear in the left-hand area of the screen. 'Clear' the Refining your Search screen between searches to prevent contamination from one search to another.

More than one index can be combined in one search

1. To find 'Strategoi' active late 8th to mid 9th centuries, said to be of Armenian origin.

• From the home page, select 'Strategos'; when the system has produced the list, click in the tick box
• Select the drop-down 'Go to:' menu on the right of the wine-dark red header
• Select 'Ethnicity' (this will take you to the Ethnicity index and indeed is exactly the same as if you had 'clicked' on the Ethnicity index on the home page)
• Select 'A', then 'Armenian' and click in the tick box
• Return to the wine-dark red header, activate the menu again and click on 'Refining your Search'. The screen will clear and reload, now with two small tick boxes on the left of the wine-dark red header labelled 'Strategos' and 'Armenian'
• Tick both the tick boxes; activate the time-limitation as before, and then click on the choice 'and'
• The results will appear in the left-hand index area.

2. To find monks mentioned in Theophanes Confessor, Chronographia.

• Select 'Monk' from the 'Occupations' index and tick the tick box
• Select the drop-down 'Go to:' menu on the right of the wine-dark red header
• Select 'Sources' and click on 'T' in the alphabethical list shown
• Scroll down and select 'Theophanes Confessor, Chronographia'
• Return to the wine-dark red header, activate the menu again and click on 'Refining your Search'. The screen will clear and reload, now with two small tick boxes on the left of the wine-dark red-banner header labelled 'Occupation: Monk' and 'Source: Theophanes Confessor, Chronographia'
• Go to 'Refining your Search'. Tick both the tick boxes and then click on the choice 'and'. The results will appear in the left-hand index area

3. To find 'Strategoi' mentioned in Theophanes's Chronographia, who are not Armenians.

• Select 'Strategos' as before
• Select the drop-down 'Go to:' menu on the right of the wine-dark red header
• Select 'Ethnicity' and 'Armenian' as before
• Return to the wine-dark red header, activate the menu and click on 'Refining your Search'. The screen will clear and reload, now with two small tick boxes on the left of the wine-dark red-banner header labelled 'Strategos' and 'Armenian'
• Tick both boxes, then click on the choice 'not'

  The computer will order these alphabetically. Use the drop down menus to the right of the boxes where it says 'Ethnicity: Armenian' and 'Title: Strategos' to swap them over so that the order is correct, and it reads '"Title: Strategos" excluding "Ethnicity: Armenian"' and not '"Ethnicity: Armenian" excluding "Title: Strategos"', as the latter would find all Armenians who had not held the office 'Strategos' -- the answer to a very different question.

• The results to the first-stage query will appear in the left-hand index area

• Select the source Theophanes Confessor, Chronographia, as before
• Return to the wine-dark red header, activate the menu and click on 'Refining your Search'. The screen will clear and reload, now with four small tick boxes on the left of the wine-dark red header labelled (Title: Strategos), (Ethnicity: Armenian), {(Title: Strategos) NOT (Ethnicity: Armenian)}, and (Source: Theophanes Confessor, Chronographia)
• Refine your search by ticking both the {(Title: Strategos) NOT (Ethnicity: Armenian)}, and the (Source: Theophanes Confessor, Chronographia) boxes and then click on the choice 'and', making the query [(Source: Theophanes Confessor, Chronographia) AND {(Title: Strategos) NOT (Ethnicity: Armenian)}]

The results to the full query will now appear in the left-hand index area

Users are advised to 'clear' the Refining your Search screen between searches to prevent any contamination from one search to another.

The following links will take you to more pages which provide in depth, step-by-step examples which you may like to work through.

1. Performing a search according to floruit period. Click here to see a fully illustrated example of this.
2. Performing a search according to common attributes - finding a list of names that share two or three common attributes, for example. Click here to see a fully illustrated example of this.

Use the Help Index on the left to access additional Help resources, or use the Back button on your browser to return to the previous page.