Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus (/ ˈfeɪbiəs / [1]), surnamed Cunctator (c. 280 – 203 BC), was a Roman statesman and general of the third century BC. He was consul five times (233, 228, 215, 214, and 209 BC) and was appointed dictator in 221 and 217 BC. He was censor in 230 BC.

Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus (died 203 bce) was a Roman military commander and statesman whose cautious delaying tactics (whence the nickname “Cunctator,” meaning “delayer,” which was not his official cognomen) during the early stages of the Second Punic War (218–201 bce) gave Rome time to recover its strength.

Fabius was the legendary founder of the family of the Fabii, one of the most ancient patrician families at ancient Rome, and that distinguished itself as warriors, politicians, religious, literati and artists.

The Fabian strategy is a military strategy where pitched battles and frontal assaults are avoided in favor of wearing down an opponent through a war of attrition and indirection. While avoiding decisive battles, the side employing this strategy harasses its enemy through skirmishes to cause attrition, disrupt supply and affect morale.

Known as "The Delayer," Fabius Maximus was a man of patience and prudence, whose unconventional tactics in the face of the formidable Carthaginian general, Hannibal, would forever change the course of military strategy.

Under Fabius, the Romans attacked Hannibal's tenuous supply lines and isolated outposts, captured patrols and forage parties, avoided pitched battles, and ultimately forced a desperate Hannibal to attack fortified cities in a failed attempt to conquer a port.

Jan 29, 2020 · The greatest danger to Hannibal’s grand design emerged in the slow-talking, dispassionate Fabius Maximus. Fabius realized that Rome must deny the Carthaginian the battles he sought, thereby neutralizing the enemy’s obvious tactical superiority. Enough Romans agreed with Fabius following the disastrous Battle of Trasimene in 217 BC.

Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus , byname Cunctator, (died 203 bc), Roman commander and statesman. He served as consul in 233 bc (an office he would hold five times) and censor in 230. Elected dictator in 217, he used a strategy of harassment and attrition in the Second Punic War against Hannibal (218–201).

May 29, 2018 · Fabius (d. 203 bc), Roman general and statesman, known as Fabius Cunctator (‘the Delayer’). After Hannibal's defeat of the Roman army at Cannae in 216 bc, Fabius successfully pursued a strategy of caution and delay in order to …

Jun 8, 2023 · Fabius stands slightly askew in the pantheon of Roman heroes. He never won a decisive victory against Hannibal; he let him escape through a gorge; and counselled vociferously against Scipio’s African expedition — the one that finally brought the war to a close.