The first result was the Prosopographie der mittelbyzantinischen Zeit, Abteilung I: 641–867, edited by Friedhelm Winkelmann and Ralph-Johannes Lilie and published in five volumes between 1998 and 2002. A version of this database is hosted at Berlin-Brandenburg Academy. In 2001, the British Academy published a CD-ROM with its own Prosopography of the Byzantine Empire I (641–867), edited by John Robert Martindale, which is complementary to the German work. A section of the database covering the period 1025–1261 is hosted at King's College London and is freely accessible from the internet.
The project aimed to cover all named individuals in the Byzantine world in the period from 641, where The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire ends, to 1265. The geographical scope has since been extended to cover Jerusalem. As of 2006 the PBW itself covers the period 1025 to 1180, a total of some 10,000 individuals. The data is drawn from textual sources and also from sigillography which constitutes an important resource in Byzantine prosopography. Around 7500 seals are recorded. The project team estimate that, in printed form, the database would amount to some 1400 pages.