The gens Mimesia was an obscure Roman family, known almost entirely from a famous inscription on the cistern at the Cathedral of San Rufino in Assisi, dating to the first century BC. Two members of the Mimesia gens are named among six men who built the walls surrounding the cistern, pursuant to a decree of the Roman Senate, and under the supervision of the town magistrates. Their filiations also identify their fathers, providing the names of four Mimesii, and among these four names are two Latin praenomina that are relatively rare in extant records.
The full inscription, as recorded in the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, reads,
POST[UMUS] MIMESIUS C[AI] F[ILIUS] T[ITUS] MIMESIUS SERT[ORIS] F[ILIUS] NER[IUS] CAPIDAS C[AI] F(ILIUS) RUF[US] / NER[IUS] BABRIUS T[ITI] F[ILIUS] C[AIUS] CAPIDAS T[ITI] F[ILIUS] C[AI] N[EPOS] V[IBIUS] VOISIENUS T[ITI] F[ILIUS] MARONES / MURUM AB FORNICE AD CIRCUM ET FORNICEM CISTERNAMQ[UE] D[E] S[ENATUS] S[ENTENTIA] FACIUNDUM COIRAVERE
The men who built the walls are identified as:
The praenomen Postumus was uncommon at Rome from the time of the early Republic, although a number of instances are known, and it later became a common cognomen.Sertor, meanwhile, is not known to have been used by any prominent Roman families, although it was included by Varro in a list of fourteen old praenomina (including Postumus) that had fallen out of use.
In addition to the two Mimesii, the two instances of the praenomen Nerius, which was typical of Umbrian names, and one of Vibius, which was relatively uncommon at Rome, make this inscription extraordinary, in terms of demonstrating that praenomina scarce at Rome could be widespread in the countryside.