The altar was found c. 1510 in Rome in a vineyard near the Appian Gate and dates to the 2nd century CE. It is currently housed in the British Museum.
Isias,
Isiades f.
Isias,
her slave name, was her cognomen; Greek in origin, it meant daughter of Isis, the Egyptian goddess (see SPQR). It is not proof that she was Egyptian, but rather suggests her origin in the hellenized East. Since she was freed by a member of the Annii, she adopted the feminized form of their gens nomen. As she is the object of the dedication, her name is in the dative case.
dulcissimus,
-a, -um (< dulcis)
sweetest, dearest, most cherished, most gracious.In apposition to Isiadi.
hoc monumentum fecit: a phrase so often found on tombstones (monumentum is the regular word for a Roman tomb) that it is sometimes omitted for simplicity, lack of space or economy.