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 until 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.
