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Aurelia Nais, memorialized by this beautifully decorated
marble cippus, was a freedwoman who engaged in an occupation that was
apparently unusual for women, at least in Rome. The brief inscription is carved
in well-formed letters that surround an elegant victory wreath in relief,
perhaps a symbol of her triumph over death. Long after the actual wreaths on
her grave had withered, this monument continued to celebrate the affection she
inspired in the two fellow freedmen who dedicated it to her. One was her
patron, Gaius Aurelius Phileros, a former slave of the same master who freed
Nais, Gaius Aurelius; the other, Lucius Valerius Secundus, was a freedman of
Lucius Valerius. Early 2nd century CE.
| AURELIA C[ai] L[iberta] NAIS | |
| PISCATRIX DE HORREIS GALBAE |  |
| C[aius] AURELIUS C[ai] L[ibertus] PHILEROS | |
| PATRONUS | |
| L[ucius] VALERIUS L[uci] L[ibertus] SECUNDUS | |
| [hoc monumentum fecerunt] | |
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