Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- Maecenas, Gaius 70?-8 B.C. Roman politician and patron of Horace and Virgil.
Wiktionary
- n. A generous benefactor; specifically, a patron of literature or art.
Etymologies
- From Middle French mecenas, and its source, Latin Maecēnās ("literary patron"), from the name of Gaius Maecenas, Roman statesman and patron of Horace and Virgil. (Wiktionary)
Examples
“Not long after that, the Romans arrive to escort Arcturus to a hidden forbidden temple where Maecenas is dead looking like a ghastly imitation of Mithras slaying the bull.”
Nox Dormienda-Kelli Stanley « The Merry Genre Go Round Reviews
“She delays "Maecenas" too much and gives it an emphasis far from the subtlety of the original it is also centered on the page, but at least has it, unlike Day Lewis.”
“Octavian’s response to the terms Maecenas brought him was very different.”
“He misspelled "Maecenas," which means a cultural benefactor.”
“There is no longer a 'Maecenas' or 'Lawrence the Magnificent.”
“Virgil and Horace enjoyed the bounty of Gaius Maecenas, and in return wrote poetic ad copy for Gaius' pal Caesar Augustus.”
“From the Nymphaeum, on the ancient site of the Gardens of Licinius, you pass through the Piazza Vittorio into the Gardens of Maecenas on the lower Esquiline, where you see the ruins of the Baths of Titus.”
“Apparently the Emperor has sent fat avaricious Syrian Vibius Maecenas with papers demanding Agricola to resign.”
Nox Dormienda-Kelli Stanley « The Merry Genre Go Round Reviews
“The author, Macrobius, culled his material from a collection of witticisms edited in the first century by one Domitius Marsus, who, as a protégé of the Augustan socialite Maecenas, was presumably repeating stories that were making the rounds of Roman court gossip at the time.75”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘Maecenas’.
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bywords
The height of fame, or infamy, is when your name becomes a byword for something. I'm not 100 percent sure about the technical name for this trope, but it seems to be antonomasia. Suggestions are mo...
einstein, romeo, casanova, lothario, sherlock holmes, shakespeare, tolstoy, rembrandt, leonardo, mozart, beethoven, howard hughes and 116 more...
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readings
words i needed to look up while reading
odobene, chiaroscuro, garboil, thele, perdu or perdue, tesselated, moted, Sotsart, Attic, tufabuilt, matryoshkas, vesicant and 3 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for Maecenas.
rolig In Russian and Slovene and, I expect, many other languages this name has become a common noun referring to a patron of the arts, especially someone who supports a particular artist, writer, or art institution. Jan 5, 2012