Quintus Fabius Pictor (200 BC)

Fabius
Roman Republic, Anonymous, 217 - 215 B.C.
On 24 June 217 B.C., on the shore of Lake Trasimene, Hannibal's troops all but annihilated a Roman army, killing thousands and driving others to drown in the lake. On 2 August 216 B.C., at the Battle of Cannae, Hannibal's 40,000-man army defeated a Roman force of 70,000. Allies began to defect from Rome, while others were conquered by Hannibal's forces. Quintus Fabius Pictor was sent to Delphi in Greece to consult the Oracle for advice for Rome.

Quintus Fabius Pictor

(late 3rd century B.C.), He was a member of the senate and fought against the Carthagians in the Second Punic War (218-201) and sent on a mission to the Oracle of Delphi after defeat of the Romans at Cannae (216).

The first well known writer of Roman history to employ the medium of prose instead of verse. It was composed in Greek partly to justify Roman policy to the Greeks. It was an account of the development of Rome from the earliest times. (According to this source: He wrote a story of miracles concerning the beginnings of the Roman Republic: A Tale of the Great Roman Games instauratio, dedicated to Jupiter.)

The work, now lost except for a few fragments which are published in Felix Jacoby's Fragmente der greichischen Historiker (1957), was frequently referred to by subsequent Roman historians, such as Polybius, Donysius and Livy.

References

  • Funk and Wagnalls Encyclopedia ©1950
  • Encyclopedia Britannica Micropedia, ©1984
  • Roman Republic, Anonymous, 217 - 215 B.C.
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