The name of this man has long become a household name. For two thousand years now, philanthropists have been those people who unselfishly and generously help talented poets, writers, artists, architects, sculptors, and musicians. Thanks to their kindness and care, brilliant works of literature and art are created. But when we talk about such people, we most often forget about the man who gave them their name - Gaius Cilnius Maecenas, who lived in Ancient Rome in the 1st century BC. e. and a former ally of Emperor Octavian Augustus and patron of the greatest Roman poets Horace, Virgil, Propertius. This is what this book is about, written on the basis of a scrupulous and complete analysis of surviving sources.