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Apion

Apion, Greek grammarian and commentator on Homer, born at Oasis in Libya, 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, which are lost. The well-known story of 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 entry was originally from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.

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