Apion

Apion (Greek: Ἀπίων; fl. 1st century CE), also called Apion Pleistoneices (Greek: Ἀπίων Πλειστονίκου, Apíōn Pleistoníkēs) and Apion Mochthos (μόχθος) was a Greek or Graeco-Egyptian scholar of Ptolemaic Egypt, born in the El Kargeh oasis. He studied under Didymus Chalcenterus and later succeeded Theon as head of the Alexandrian school. Apion gained recognition as a lecturer, speaking in Rome and elsewhere.

In 40 CE, he was part of a delegation sent by the Greek community of Alexandria to the Roman Emperor Gaius (Caligula) following anti-Jewish riots. The Jewish historian Josephus criticized Apion extensively in Book 2 of his polemic Against Apion (Lat: Contra Apionem).

Apion wrote extensively about his native Egypt. Details of his life come almost exclusively from other ancient sources, most prominently Pliny the Elder, Aulus Gellius, as well as the 10th century Byzantine encyclopedia the Suda. According to Aulus Gellius, wrote a version of the folk tale "Androcles and the Lion" (Noctes Atticae 5.14). Pliny related that Apion claimed to have summoned the spirit of Homer to determine the poet’s origins (Natural History 30.6.18). He wrote an alphabetic glossary of Homeric themes—a work, like others of its kind, based on the scholarship of Aristarchus of Samothrace (c. 220 – c. 143 BCE); it survives only in fragments and through the writings of Apollonius the Sophist.

According to the Suda, he was dubbed "Mochthos" (μόχθος), a word meaning "toil, labor, hardship, or trouble" in reference to his tireless work habits.