La (pro)dittatura di Q. Fabio Massimo (217 a.C.) : a proposito di alcune ipotesi recenti

In the aftermath of the defeat suffered at the Lake Trasimene, the Romans elected Q. Fabius Maximus dictator and M. Minucius Rufus magister equitum. Livy records that both men were directly created by the comitia, a very exceptional circumstance. For a long time, scholars have accepted this solution, but in the last years a good number of historians have forwarded new hypothesis, suggesting that the nominees of Fabius and Minucius were made by an interrex (as Sulla in 82 B.C.) or a praetor (as Caesar in 44 B.C.). This paper considers and analyses these new theories, but finally argues that the old solution of a popular creano is still the one that must be preferred.