19 Facts About Gaius Maecenas

Gaius Maecenas prided himself on his ancient Etruscan lineage, and claimed descent from the princely house of the Cilnii, who excited the jealousy of their townsmen by their preponderant wealth and influence at Arretium in the 4th century BC.

Tacitus refers to him as "Cilnius Gaius Maecenas"; it is possible that "Cilnius" was his mother's nomen – or that Gaius Maecenas was in fact a cognomen.

Gaius Maecenas first appears in history in 40 BC, when he was employed by Octavian in arranging his marriage with Scribonia, and afterwards in assisting to negotiate the Treaty of Brundisium and the reconciliation with Mark Antony.

Gaius Maecenas was vicegerent of Octavian during the campaign that led to the Battle of Actium, when, with great promptness and secrecy, he crushed the conspiracy of Lepidus the Younger; during the subsequent absences of his chief in the provinces he again held the same position.

The historian attributes the loss of the imperial favour to Gaius Maecenas' having indiscreetly revealed to Terentia, his beautiful but difficult wife, the discovery of the conspiracy in which her brother Lucius Licinius Varro Murena was implicated, but according to Cassius Dio it was due to the emperor's relations with Terentia.

Related searches

Gaius Maecenas died in 8 BC, leaving the emperor sole heir to his wealth.

Gaius Maecenas enjoyed the credit of sharing largely in the establishment of the new order of things, of reconciling parties, and of carrying the new empire safely through many dangers.

Gaius Maecenas is most famous for his support of young poets; hence his name has become the eponym for a "patron of arts".

Gaius Maecenas supported Virgil who wrote the Georgics in his honour.

Gaius Maecenas gave him full financial support as well as an estate in the Sabine Mountains.

Gaius Maecenas's patronage was exercised, not from vanity or a mere dilettante love of letters, but with a view to the higher interest of the state.

Gaius Maecenas recognized in the genius of the poets of that time not only the truest ornament of the court, but the power of reconciling men's minds to the new order of things, and of investing the actual state of affairs with an ideal glory and majesty.

Gaius Maecenas endeavoured to divert the less masculine genius of Propertius from harping continually on his love to themes of public interest, an effort which to some extent backfired in the ironic elegies of Book III.

Gaius Maecenas wrote literature himself in both prose and verse, which are now lost literary work.

Gaius Maecenas sited his famous gardens, the first gardens in the Hellenistic-Persian garden style in Rome, on the Esquiline Hill, atop the Servian Wall and its adjoining necropolis, near the gardens of Lamia.

Gaius Maecenas's name has become a byword in many languages for a well-connected and wealthy patron.

Morgan, Gaius Maecenas is one of the three famous wealthy men whose secrets narrator Nick Carraway hopes to find in the books he buys for his home library.

Gaius Maecenas was portrayed by Alex Wyndham in the second season of the 2005 HBO television series Rome.

Gaius Maecenas is featured in one episode of the second series of Plebs on ITV.