Editing Apion (section)

{{short description|1st century CE grammarian and sophist}}
{{about|the ancient Egyptian grammarian|the late antique Egyptian family|Apion (family)|the 6th century Byzantine jurist|Strategius Apion|the genus of beetles|Apion (beetle)}}

'''Apion''' ({{langx|el|Ἀπίων}}; fl. 1st century CE), also called Apion Pleistoneices ({{langx|el|Ἀπίων Πλειστονίκου}}, ''Apíōn Pleistoníkēs'') and Apion Mochthos (μόχθος) was a Greek or [[Egyptian Greeks|Graeco-Egyptian]] scholar of [[Ptolemaic Kingdom|Ptolemaic Egypt]], born in the [[Kharga Oasis|El Kargeh]] oasis. He studied under [[Didymus Chalcenterus]] and later succeeded [[Theon (1st century BC)|Theon]] as head of the [[Alexandria|Alexandrian]] school{{Clarification needed|reason=What is the "Alexandrian school" referenced? No wikilink.|date=May 2025}}. Apion gained recognition as a lecturer, speaking in [[Rome]] and elsewhere.{{Sfn|Forbes|Wilson|2015}}

In 40 CE, he was part of a delegation sent by the Greek community of Alexandria to the Roman Emperor Gaius ([[Caligula]]) following [[Alexandrian riots (38 CE)|anti-Jewish riots]]. The Jewish historian [[Josephus]] criticized Apion extensively in Book 2 of his [[polemic]] ''[[Against Apion]]'' ([[Latin|Lat]]: ''Contra Apionem'').{{Sfn|Forbes|Wilson|2015}}

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 literature|Byzantine]] [[encyclopedia]] the ''[[Suda]]''. According to Aulus Gellius, wrote a version of the folk tale "[[Androcles|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 [[Homer|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 [[Literary fragment|fragments]] and through the writings of [[Apollonius the Sophist|Apollonius]] [[Apollonius the Sophist|the Sophist]].{{Sfn|Forbes|Wilson|2015}}

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