{"product_id":"romes-patron-emily-gowers-9780691193144","title":"Rome's Patron: The Lives and Afterlives of Maecenas","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe story of Maecenas and his role in the evolution and continuing legacy of ancient Roman poetry and culture\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAn unelected statesman with exceptional powers, a patron of the arts and a luxury-loving friend of the emperor Augustus: Maecenas was one of the most prominent and distinctive personalities of ancient Rome. Yet the traces he left behind are unreliable and tantalizingly scarce. Rather than attempting a conventional biography, Emily Gowers shows in \u003ci\u003eRome's Patron\u003c\/i\u003e that it is possible to tell a different story, one about Maecenas's influence, his changing identities and the many narratives attached to him across two millennia. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eRome's Patron\u003c\/i\u003e explores Maecenas's appearances in the central works of Augustan poetry written in his name--Virgil's \u003ci\u003eGeorgics\u003c\/i\u003e, Horace's \u003ci\u003eOdes\u003c\/i\u003e and Propertius's elegies--and in later works of Latin literature that reassess his influence. For the Roman poets he supported, Maecenas was a mascot of cultural flexibility and innovation, a pioneer of gender fluidity and a bearer of imperial demands who could be exposed as a secret sympathizer with their own values. For those excluded from his circle, he represented either favouritism and indulgence or the lost ideal of a patron in perfect collaboration with the authors he championed. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAs Gowers shows, Maecenas had and continues to have a unique cachet--in the fantasies that still surround the gardens, buildings and objects so tenuously associated with him; in literature, from Ariosto and Ben Johnson to Phillis Wheatley and W. B. Yeats; and in philanthropy, where his name has been surprisingly adaptable to more democratic forms of patronage.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Emily Gowers\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0691193142\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780691193144\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Princeton University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 02\/27\/2024\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 488\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.80lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.30h x 6.40w x 1.40d","brand":"Emily Gowers","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":44890770997503,"sku":"9780691193144","price":45.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_05546eb3-946a-4aa8-906a-e1e778816e8b.jpg?v=1709739980","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/romes-patron-emily-gowers-9780691193144","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}