Fabius Pictor

Abstract

Quintus Fabius Pictor was the first Roman to write a history of his city in prose. A member of the great patrician family of the Fabii, he lived at the time of the First and Second Punic Wars (see Biographica: Ancestry and Public Career), and wrote about them in his historical work, which traced the history of Rome back to its remote origins (see Title and Scope). The work does not survive, and is known to us only through references and indirect quotations in later authors (see Editions of the Fragments). It was written in Greek, but a Latin version also circulated and is quoted by some later sources (see Language). It is unclear precisely when Fabius was writing, or in what circumstances (see Time of Writing, Political and Cultural Context). We also do not know what inspired him to write, or why he chose to write in Greek (see Political and Cultural Context, Purpose and Intended Readership). But it is clear that he initiated the tradition of historical writing at Rome, and was the first of many to trace its history from the beginning to his own time. Like his successors, he wrote at greater length on contemporary events than on the earlier centuries, which he covered briefly, although he may have given an extensive account of the foundation story (see Internal Architecture). Whether he arranged his material annalistically, covering events year by year, and if so for which period(s), is disputed (see Narrative Format). His influence has been variously assessed, with some regarding him as a fundamentally important source of information and inspiration for later Roman historians, and even as a pioneer of national historiography in the West, while others minimize his significance in the development of the Roman historical tradition (see Influence and Reception).