26.06.24 and 27.06.24: the tombstone of Aurelia Nais (early 2nd century CE) [1] and [2]

AVRELIA C[ai] L[iberta] NAIS

PISCATRIX DE HORREIS GALBAE

C[aius] AVRELIVS C[ai] L[ibertus] PHILEROS

PATRONVS

L[ucius] VALERIVS L[uci] L[ibertus] SECVNDVS

[hoc monumentum fecerunt]

[1] Aurelia Nais was a freedwoman: L [iberta]

[2] She was a fish seller: PISCATRIX; piscātrīx, piscātricis [3/f]: fisherwoman, but she sold fish because the tombstone tells us where she worked:

DE HORREIS GALBAE: from the Horrea Galbae, which were warehouses in the southern part of Rome

https://www.digitalaugustanrome.org/records/horrea-galbana/

horreum, -ī [2/n] warehouse

[3] 2 men arranged for the construction of the tomb:

[i] Gaius Aurelius Phileros; he was her patronus [patrōnus, -ī (2/m)], her patron / protector. He was the one who freed her, but Phileros himself had previously been a slave: L [ibertus].

https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0063%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DL%3Aentry+group%3D2%3Aentry%3Dlibertus-cn

[ii] Lucius Valerius Secundus, also a former slave: [L]ibertus; his relationship to the deceased woman is unknown

The end statement – hoc monumentum fēcērunt – is not inscribed, but is implied by the existence of the names of the two men i.e. they made / arranged for this monument.

The names of all three people mentioned on the tombstone are interesting from the perspective of slaves and those who were freed.

[1] We’ll start with Gaius Aurelius │ Phileros: ‘Phileros’ is a cognōmen, a type of nickname: Phileros, Philerotos [3/m] is a Greek-type noun meaning ‘full of love’ He was a slave but became a libertus, a freedman. When that happened, a full formal name was given to him which included the name of his master – Gaius Aurelius + his cognōmen.

C[aius] AVRELIVS ¦  C[ai] L[ibertus] ¦ PHILEROS │ Gaius Aurelius ¦ the freedman of Gaius ¦ Phileros

[2] When he became a freedman, Gaius Aurelius Phileros must have done quite well for himself because he had a slave called Nais: Nais was her cognōmen: Greek-type noun (water-nymph). She too was eventually given her freedom and she took the name of her master, the former slave Gaius Aurelius Phileros i.e. Aurelia Nais.

AVRELIA ¦  C[ai] L[iberta] ¦ NAIS │ Aurelia ¦ freedwoman of Gaius ¦ Nais

[3] Lucius Valerius │ Secundus: he had been a slave to Lucius Valerius, and, again, in addition to his cognōmen ‘Secundus’ he was given the name of his former master.

L[ucius] VALERIVS ¦  L[uci] L[ibertus] ¦ SECVNDVS │ Lucius Valerius ¦ freedman of Lucius ¦ Secundus.

All three of them, therefore, were given formal names after they were freed. The name of the former masters became the nōmen i.e. a ‘family’ name:

AURELIA Nais

GAIUS AURELIUS Phileros

LUCIUS VALERIUS Secundus