Numerius Fabius Buteo was a Roman politician in the third century and held the consulship in 247 BC.

Family

He was a member of gens Fabia. His brother was

Marcus Fabius Buteo Marcus Fabius Buteo (died around 210-209 BC) was a Roman politician during the 3rd century BC. He served as consul in 245 BC, and as censor, and in 216 BC, being the oldest living ex-censor, he was appointed dictator, ''legendo senatui'', for th ...

, who held the consulship in 245 BC.Hans George Gundel, The New Pauly's Encyclopedia of Classical Antiquity Ch.4 p.367

Career

Numerius Fabius held the consulship himself with Lucius Caecilius Metellus during the

First Punic War The First Punic War (264–241 BC) was the first of three wars fought between Rome and Carthage, the two main powers of the western Mediterranean in the early 3rd century BC. For 23 years, in the longest continuous conflict and grea ...

in 247 BC.Pliny the Elder, Natural History, X, 8, 10. Fabius waged war against the

Carthaginians The Punic people, usually known as the Carthaginians (and sometimes as Western Phoenicians), were a Semitic people, Semitic people who Phoenician settlement of North Africa, migrated from Phoenicia to the Western Mediterranean during the Iron ...

and besieged the town of

Drepana Drepana () was an Elymians, Elymian, Carthaginian Empire, Carthaginian, and Roman Republic, Roman port in classical antiquity, antiquity on the western coast of Sicily. It was the site of Battle of Drepana, a crushing Roman defeat by the Carthage ...

, but was unable to take it.Valerius Maximus, Famous Sayings, 1, 4. In the year 224, Fabius served as

Magister equitum The , in English Master of the Horse or Master of the Cavalry, was a Roman magistrate appointed as lieutenant to a dictator. His nominal function was to serve as commander of the Roman cavalry in time of war, but just as a dictator could be n ...

with his former colleague, Lucius Caecilius Metellus as

dictator A dictator is a political leader who possesses absolute Power (social and political), power. A dictatorship is a state ruled by one dictator or by a polity. The word originated as the title of a Roman dictator elected by the Roman Senate to r ...

.Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities, II, 66.

References

3rd-century BC Roman consuls People of the First Punic War Magistri equitum (Roman Republic) Fabii {{AncientRome-bio-stub