T. Aelius Evangelus: due iscrizioni, una compagna, una figlia naturale, una moglie e un lanificium

Two inscribed slabs, one in the Medelhavsmuseet in Stockholm and the other in the J. Paul Getty Museum in Malibu, make mention of a T. Aelius Evangelus, who set up his own sepulcher first for himself and his partner and, later, for himself and his wife, granting the use, in the latter case, also to a natural daughter, born from the previous relationship, to a M. Ulpius Telesphorus, to the freemen and freedwomen and their descendants. Also on both slabs he is portrayed working within his lanificium. Both reliefs, in fact, depict one of the phases of textile production: the preparation of the yarn. It is a very important document, up to now unique, where the whole organization of work in a lanificium, active in the last decades of the second century A.D., is well highlighted. It is thus possible to follow the various steps, from the raw material to the finished product, and to know the people employed in the processing and their tasks.