Lucius Cincius Alimentus

Lucius Cincius Alimentus was a Roman magistrate and historian of the third century BCE. His history of Rome, written in Greek, survives only in fragments quoted by later authors.

Connect

Roman historiography: The writing of history in ancient Rome, from early annals to imperial historical narratives. Alimentus belongs to Rome’s early tradition of recording the city’s past.
Livy: A Roman historian whose monumental history of Rome, written in the late first century BCE, survives largely intact. Livy names Alimentus among earlier authorities for Rome’s early history.
Fabius Pictor: A Roman senator and historian of the third century BCE who composed a history of Rome in Greek. Fabius Pictor is the closest early Roman predecessor in Greek-language historiography.
Lost works: Works known to have existed but no longer survive in complete or independently accessible form. Alimentus’s history is known through fragments and references rather than a surviving text.
Roman annals: Year-by-year records of Roman events, maintained by public officials and later developed into historical narratives. His history is associated with the annalistic organization of Rome’s past.
Dionysius of Halicarnassus: A Greek historian of the first century BCE whose Roman Antiquities recounts Rome’s early history. Dionysius preserves material and testimony associated with Alimentus’s historical tradition.
Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus: A Roman statesman and general who led Rome during the Second Punic War. Ancient accounts associate Alimentus’s historical chronology with information connected to Fabius Maximus.
Fragmentary text: A literary work preserved only in incomplete passages, quotations, or indirect testimony. The evidence for Alimentus consists of scattered remnants embedded in later works.
Greek historiography: The ancient Greek tradition of composing historical accounts and interpreting past events. Alimentus wrote his Roman history in Greek, using the language of established historiography.
Hannibal: A Carthaginian general who led the invasion of Italy during the Second Punic War. Ancient testimony links Alimentus with captivity under Hannibal, a rare biographical detail.