[Aurelia Paulina, 2nd century CE, image courtesy of Linda Davis, source: vroma.org]
An inscription gives us a little bit of Paulina’s ancestry. Her parents were Dionysos and Aelia Tertulla, members of a wealthy non-citizen family in the province of Syria. She eventually married a man named Aquilus, who came from Sillyon and held a similar status to her own. The pair of them were granted Roman citizenship by the Emperor Commodus. Aquilus died before Paulina leaving her a widow. At some point she moved from Syria to the city of Perge in the province of Pamphylia. Whether this was before or after her widowhood is unknown, but probably before. While still in Syria, she held the post of priestess of the Imperial Cult. In Perge she took the post of priestess of Artemis.
[Ruins of the Nymphaeum of Aurelia Paulina, Perge, Turkey, source: vroma.org]
In building her nymphaeum, Paulina followed Plancia Magna in cementing her own public standing. Through sculptures and inscriptions she linked herself both with the Empress Julia Domna and Artemis, for whom she was priestess. Perhaps she acted on a smaller scale than Plancia Magna, but she had plenty to say of herself nevertheless.
Longfellow, Brenda. Roman Imperialism and Civic Patronage: Form, Meaning and Ideology in Monumental Fountain Complexes. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2011. [Parts of this book may be found on Google Books here.]
Boatwright, Mary Taliaferro. "Plancia Magna of Perge: Women's Status and Roles in Roman Asia Minor." In Women's History Ancient History, edited by Sarah B. Pomeroy, 249-272. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1991.
Plancia Magna, Aurelia Paulina, and Regilla: Civic Donors - vroma.org