Apollonius ( grc, Απολλώνιος) of
Athens—sometimes Apollonius of Naucratis—was a Greek
sophist and
rhetoric
Rhetoric () is the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic (or dialectic), is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade, or motivate parti ...
ian who lived in the time of the Roman emperor
Septimius Severus, that is, the end of the 2nd century.
Apollonius was a pupil of the sophists
Adrianus and
Chrestus. He distinguished himself by his forensic eloquence, and taught rhetoric at Athens at the same time with
Heracleides. He was an opponent of Heracleides, and with the assistance of his associates he succeeded in expelling him from the chair of rhetoric in Athens. Apollonius was afterward appointed by the emperor to the chair of rhetoric, with a salary of one
talent
Talent has two principal meanings:
* Talent (measurement), an ancient unit of mass and value
* Talent (skill), a group of aptitudes useful for some activities; talents may refer to aptitudes themselves or to possessors of those talents
Talent ma ...
. He held several high offices in his native place, and distinguished himself no less as a statesman and diplomatist than as a rhetorician.
Apollonius cultivated chiefly political oratory, and used to spend a great deal of time upon preparing his speeches in retirement. His declamations are said to have excelled those of many of his predecessors in dignity, beauty, and propriety; but he was often vehement and rhythmical.
Apollonius' moral conduct was censured, as he had a son Rufinus by a concubine. He died at Athens in the seventieth year of his age.
[ Eudokia Makrembolitissa, '' Collection'' 66]
Notes
{{Authority control
2nd-century Athenians
Roman-era Athenian rhetoricians
Roman-era Sophists