Apion - Definition and Overview

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

He studied at Alexandria, and headed a deputation sent to Caligula (in 38) by the Alexandrians to complain of the Jews. His charges were answered by Josephus in his Contra Apionem.

He settled at Rome -- it is uncertain when -- and taught rhetoric till the reign of Claudius. Apion was a man of great industry and learning, but extremely vain. He wrote several works, none of which have survived. The well-known story "Androclus and the Lion", preserved in Aulus Gellius, is from his work. Fragments of his work are printed the Etymologicum Gudianum, ed. Sturz, 1818.

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica.