Apion

Who is Apion?

Apion, Greek grammarian, sophist and commentator on Homer, was born at the Siwa Oasis, and flourished in the first half of the 1st century AD.

Apion studied at Alexandria. He settled in Rome at an unknown date. Apion taught rhetoric until the reign of Claudius. He wrote several works, none of which has survived. The well-known story "Androclus and the Lion", which is preserved in Aulus Gellius is from his work: Aegyptiacorum. The surviving fragments of his work are printed in the Etymologicum Gudianum, ed. Sturz, 1818.

Following intra and inter-communal violence in Alexandria a deputation of Greeks and a deputation of Jews was sent to Rome to argue community interests before Caligula in response to conflict between Greeks, Jews and Egyptians. Apion's criticisms of Jewish culture and history were replied to by Josephus in Against Apion.