Quintus Fabius Pictor (c.
254 BC-?) was one of the earliest
Roman historians and considered the first of the
annalists. A member of the
Fabii gens, he was the grandson of Gaius Fabius Pictor, a painter ("pictor" in
Latin). He was a
senator who fought against the
Gauls in
225 BC, and against
Carthage in the
Second Punic War. He was appointed to travel to the oracle at
Delphi for advice after the Roman defeat at the
Battle of Cannae.
He wrote in Greek, 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 in Latium. His work ended with his own recollections of the Second Punic War, which he blamed entirely on Carthage, especially the Barca family of Hamilcar and Hannibal.
He was used as a source by Plutarch,[1] Polybius, Livy, and Dionysius of Halicarnassus, and his work had been translated into Latin by the time of Cicero.
Although Polybius uses his writings he does also accuse him of being biased towards the Romans and inconsistent.[2]
