Marcus Junius Pera

Marcus Junius Pera was a Roman politician during the Second Punic War. He was a consul in 230 BC alongside Marcus Aemilius Barbula and a censor with Gaius Claudius Centho in 225 BC. He was appointed dictator in 216 BC, rei gerundae causa, for the purpose of repelling Hannibal's Carthaginian forces from Italy. His master of horse (magister equitum) was Sempronius Gracchus. In order to raise soldiers, he armed not only slaves, but also criminals. He was the only dictator to serve a term simultaneously with another dictator, M. Fabius Buteo, who was appointed later that year to deal with constitutional matters in Rome.