Who was Gaius Maecenas?

Gaius Maecenas was a political adviser and confident to Octavian. He was a very wealthy Roman who served as the quasi-culture minister to the emperor Caesar Augustus, but was most well known for his patronage to the arts, especially poetry. Most of his wealth was probably acquired by heredity, but he dedicates his influence to the rise of Augustus. He met Horace in 39 BC, and in 37 he began a journey to Brundisium where he and Marcus Nerva corrected the Treaty of Tarentum. During the Sicilian War Maecenas was granted supreme rule over Rome and Italy.