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Quintus Fabius Pictor (c. 254 BC-?) was one of the earliest Roman
Roman Republic

The Roman Republic was the phase of the Ancient Rome characterized by a republican form of government; a period which began with the overthrow of the Roman Roman Kingdom, c....
 historian
Historian

A historian is an individual who studies and writes about history, and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, systematic narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all events in time....
s and considered the first of the annalists
Annalists

Annalists , is the name given to a class of writers on History of Rome, the period of whose literary activity lasted from the time of the Second Punic War to that of Sulla....
. A member of the Fabii
Fabius

The family name "Fabius" was the nomen of the gens Fabia of ancient Rome, that derived from the Latin faba for the Vicia faba, an important food crop in the Roman Empire....
 gens
Gens

In ancient Rome, a gens was a clan, caste, or group of families, that shared a common name and a belief in a common ancestor. In the Roman naming convention, the second name was the name of the gens to which the person belonged....
, he was the grandson of Gaius Fabius Pictor, a painter ("pictor" in Latin
Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
). He was a senator
Roman Senate

The Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic. According to the Greek historian Polybius, our principal source on the Constitution of the Roman Republic, the Roman Senate was the predominant branch of government....
 who fought against the Gauls
Gauls

The Gauls were a Continental Celtic Celts people of Classical Antiquity, the inhabitants of Gaul , and speakers of the Gaulish language.Archaeologically, they were the bearers of the La T?ne culture ....
 in 225 BC, and against Carthage
Carthage

Carthage refers both to an ancient city in present-day Tunisia, and a modern-day suburb of Tunis. The civilization that developed within the city's sphere of influence is referred to as Punic or Carthaginian....
 in the Second Punic War
Second Punic War

The Second Punic War lasted from 218 BC to 201 BC and involved combatants in the western and eastern Mediterranean. It was the second of three major wars between Carthage and the Roman Republic....
. He was appointed to travel to the oracle at Delphi
Delphi

Delphi is an archaeology site and a modern town in Greece on the south-western spur of Mount Parnassus in the valley of Phocis. Delphi was the site of the Pythia, the most important oracle in the classical Greek world, when it was a major site for the worship of the god Apollo after he slew the Python , a deity who lived there and protecte...
 for advice after the Roman defeat at the Battle of Cannae
Battle of Cannae

The Battle of Cannae was a major battle of the Second Punic War, taking place on August 2, 216 BC near the town of Cannae in Apulia in southeast Italy....
.

He wrote in Greek
Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
, and is often referred to, somewhat dismissively, as an annalist.






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Quintus Fabius Pictor (c. 254 BC-?) was one of the earliest Roman
Roman Republic

The Roman Republic was the phase of the Ancient Rome characterized by a republican form of government; a period which began with the overthrow of the Roman Roman Kingdom, c....
 historian
Historian

A historian is an individual who studies and writes about history, and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, systematic narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all events in time....
s and considered the first of the annalists
Annalists

Annalists , is the name given to a class of writers on History of Rome, the period of whose literary activity lasted from the time of the Second Punic War to that of Sulla....
. A member of the Fabii
Fabius

The family name "Fabius" was the nomen of the gens Fabia of ancient Rome, that derived from the Latin faba for the Vicia faba, an important food crop in the Roman Empire....
 gens
Gens

In ancient Rome, a gens was a clan, caste, or group of families, that shared a common name and a belief in a common ancestor. In the Roman naming convention, the second name was the name of the gens to which the person belonged....
, he was the grandson of Gaius Fabius Pictor, a painter ("pictor" in Latin
Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
). He was a senator
Roman Senate

The Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic. According to the Greek historian Polybius, our principal source on the Constitution of the Roman Republic, the Roman Senate was the predominant branch of government....
 who fought against the Gauls
Gauls

The Gauls were a Continental Celtic Celts people of Classical Antiquity, the inhabitants of Gaul , and speakers of the Gaulish language.Archaeologically, they were the bearers of the La T?ne culture ....
 in 225 BC, and against Carthage
Carthage

Carthage refers both to an ancient city in present-day Tunisia, and a modern-day suburb of Tunis. The civilization that developed within the city's sphere of influence is referred to as Punic or Carthaginian....
 in the Second Punic War
Second Punic War

The Second Punic War lasted from 218 BC to 201 BC and involved combatants in the western and eastern Mediterranean. It was the second of three major wars between Carthage and the Roman Republic....
. He was appointed to travel to the oracle at Delphi
Delphi

Delphi is an archaeology site and a modern town in Greece on the south-western spur of Mount Parnassus in the valley of Phocis. Delphi was the site of the Pythia, the most important oracle in the classical Greek world, when it was a major site for the worship of the god Apollo after he slew the Python , a deity who lived there and protecte...
 for advice after the Roman defeat at the Battle of Cannae
Battle of Cannae

The Battle of Cannae was a major battle of the Second Punic War, taking place on August 2, 216 BC near the town of Cannae in Apulia in southeast Italy....
.

He wrote in Greek
Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
, and is often referred to, somewhat dismissively, as an annalist. In fact, amongst the fragments of Pictor that we have there is no evidence that he wrote annalistic history. He used the chronicles of his own and other important Roman families as sources, and began with the arrival of Aeneas
Aeneas

This article is about the Roman hero. For other uses, see Aeneas .In Greco-Roman mythology, Aeneas was a Troy hero, the son of prince Anchises and the goddess Venus_....
 in Latium
Latium

Lazio, called Latium in English language, is a Regions of Italy of central Italy, bordered by Tuscany, Umbria, and Marche to the north, Abruzzo to the east, Campania to the south, and the Tyrrhenian Sea to the west....
. His work ended with his own recollections of the Second Punic War
Second Punic War

The Second Punic War lasted from 218 BC to 201 BC and involved combatants in the western and eastern Mediterranean. It was the second of three major wars between Carthage and the Roman Republic....
, which he blamed entirely on Carthage, especially the Barca family of Hamilcar
Hamilcar Barca

Hamilcar Barca or Barcas was a Carthage general and statesman, leader of the Barcid family, and father of Hannibal, Hasdrubal and Mago ....
 and Hannibal.

He was used as a source by Polybius
Polybius

Polybius was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic Period noted for his book called The Histories covering in detail the period of 220–146 BC....
, Livy
Livy

Titus Livius , known as Livy in English language, was a Ancient Rome historian who wrote a monumental history of Rome, Ab Urbe Condita, from its founding through the reign of Augustus in Livy's own time....
, and Dionysius of Halicarnassus
Dionysius of Halicarnassus

Dionysius of Halicarnassus was a Greeks historian and teacher of rhetoric, who flourished during the reign of Caesar Augustus....
, and his work had been translated into Latin by the time of Cicero
Cicero

Marcus Tullius Cicero was a Ancient Rome philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Constitution of the Roman Republic. Cicero is widely considered one of Rome's greatest rhetoric and prose stylists....
.

Although Polybius uses his writings he does also accuse him of being biased towards the Romans and inconsistent.

He dated the founding
Founding of Rome

The founding of Rome is reported by many legends, which in recent times are beginning to be supplemented by more scientific reconstructions.Virgil's Aeneid is an important source for information about those early times or, at least, the myth-historical events current in the Augustan period....
 of Rome
Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC....
 to be in the "first year of the eighth olympiad
Olympiad

An Olympiad is a period of four years, associated with the Ancient Olympic Games of Classical Greece. In the Hellenistic period, beginning with Ephorus, Olympiads were used as Epoch ....
" or 747 BC, according to Dionysius of Halicarnassus, (Book I. ch. 74).

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