model of womanly virtue, skilled in the domestic arts, particularly spinning and weaving, and she was associated with the origin of various Roman wedding customs. Pliny reports that in his day, six hundred years later, her spindle and distaff were preserved in the Temple of Sancus, where stood a bronze statue of the queen, together with a purple tunic she had woven for Servius Tullius, and according to some authorities a belt upon which Tanaquil had placed a number of healing charms, and to which miraculous properties were ascribed. Tanaquil was said to have woven the first tunica recta, the dress traditionally woven by Roman brides for their wedding day, and it was even supposed that the ancient wedding formula recited by the bride and groom, "ubi tu Gaius, ego Gaia" (as you are Gaius, I am Gaia), was a reference to Tanaquil. During the Renaissance, Boccaccio cited Gaia Caecilia (under the name "Gaia Cyrilla") in his De Mulieribus Claris (On Famous Women) as a model of frugality and the simple living style of Roman antiquity. See also Tanaquil (painting) Notes References Pliny the Elder, Natural Histories VIII.74.194 Livy, Ab urbe condita I.34, 39, 41 Cassius Dio, Roman History, II Tanaquil. (2007). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved May 9, 2007, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: . Raia, Ann R. and Sebesta, Judith Lynn. The World of State. 2006. Retrieved May 9, 2007: . Spalding, Tim. The Ancient Library 2005. Retrieved May 9, 2007: . Thayer, Bill. Roman History, vol.1 Loeb Classical Library edition, 1914. Web page made 2003. Retrieved May 9, 2007: . Bowder, Diana. Who was who in the Roman World. Oxford: Phaidon Press Limited, 1980. Lightman, Marjorie, and Benjamin Lightman. Biographical dictionary of ancient Greek and Roman women: notable women from Sappho to Helena. New York: Facts On File, 2000. Salisbury, Joyce E. Encyclopedia of women in the ancient world. Santa Barbara, Calif.:Abc-Clio, 2001. External links Stemma Tarquiniorum, Tarquinius family tree 7th-century BC Roman women 6th-century BC Roman women Etruscans Queens of Rome