Quintus Fabius Pictor (flourished c. 200 BC; his birth has been estimated around 270 BC) was the earliest Roman historian and is considered the first of the annalists. A member of the gens Fabia, he was the grandson of Gaius Fabius Pictor, surnamed 'the Painter' (pictor in Latin). He was a senator who fought against the Gauls in 225 BC, and witnessed some if not all of the Second Punic War. He was appointed to travel to the oracle at Delphi in 216 BC, for advice after the Roman defeat at the Battle of Cannae.