Page:Jewish Encyclopedia Volume 2.pdf/39

7 Apocrypha

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA in the first century B.C. always, designated by the

He name

is usually, but not of his father, Molon.

He was

called by his patronymic mainly to distinguish him from his somewhat older contemporary Apollonius Malachos. Apollonius Molon' was still praised as a distinguished master of the art of speech about the year 75 B.C. Josephus, however, concerns himself with him simply as one of the most prominent and most pernicious anti- Jewish writers. Born at Alabanda, in Caria, Apollonius afterward emigrated to Rhodes, wherefore Cicero styles him " Molon Bhodius " (" Brutus, " ch. lxxxix. ). He soon eclipsed his contemporaries both as a master of oratory and as a practical advocate, and had as pupils both Cicero and Julius Cffisar. It was at Rhodes, no doubt, that Apollonius appropriated the JudEeophobic ideas of the Syrian stoic

Posidonius (135-51 B.C.), who lived in that city, and thence circulated throughout the Greek and Roman world several wild calumnies concerning the Jews, such as the charges that they worshiped Follower an ass in their temple, that they sacriof ficed annually on their altar a specially Posidonius. fattened Greek, and that they were filled with hatred toward every other These and simnationality, particularly the Greeks. ilar malevolent fictions regarding the Jews were adopted by Apollonius, who, induced by the fact that the Jews in Rhodes and in Caria were very numerous (compare I Mace. xv. 16-24), composed an anti-Jewish treatise, in which all these accusations found embodiment. While Posidonius had confined himself to incidental allusions to the Jews in the course of his history of the Seleucidte (compare C. Muller, " Frag. Hist. Grcec." iii. 245 et seq.), Apollonius outdid his master by undertaking a separate book on the subject. Such appears to have been the character of his treatise, which, according to Alexander Polyhistor, was a avaizew] (Eusebius, " Prseparatio Evangelica, " ix. as Schiirer renders the phrase 19), a polemic treatise

—against the Jews.

—

The polemic

passages, however,

must have been interwoven with a general presentaprobably a history of the tion of a Jewish theme For it is the complaint origin of the Jewish people. of Josephus that Apollonius, unlike Apion, far from

—

massing all his anti-Jewish charges in one passage, had preferred to insult the Jews in various manners and in numerous places throughout his work {I.e. ii. The assumption that Apollonius' book was of a 14). historic character is confirmed by the fragment in Alexander Polyhistor, which gives the genealogy of the Jews from the Deluge to Moses, and by an allusion of Josephus which indicates that the exodus from Egypt was also dealt with therein (I.e. ii. 2). In connection with the exodus, Apollonius gave circulation to the malicious fable that the Jews had been expelled from Egypt owing to a shameful malady from which they suffered, while he took occasion to blacken the character of Moses also and to belittle his law, characterizing the lawgiver of the Jews as a sorcerer and Besides, he his work as devoid of all moral worth. heaped many unjust charges upon the Jews, reproaching them for not worshiping the same gods as the other peoples (I.e. ii. 7) and for disinclination to associate with the followers of other faiths (ii. 36). He thus represented them as atheists and misanthropes,

Apollos

and depicted them withal as men who were either cowards or fanatics, the most untalented among all barbarians, who had done nothing in furtherance of the

common

welfare of the

human

race

14).

(ii.

No

wonder these groundless charges excited the anger of Josephus, who believed that they corrupted and misled the judgment of Apion (I.e. ii. 7, 15 et seq.), and who therefore zealously devoted the entire second part of his treatise against Apion to a refutation of Apollonius. The latter was thus paid back in his own coin. Josephus does not hesitate to accuse him of crass stupidity, vaingloriousness, and an immoral life See Apion.

36, 37).

(i.e. ii.

Bibliography C. Muller, Fragmenta Historieorum Grceeorum, iii. 208 et seq. J. G. Muller, Des Flavius Josephus Sehriftgegen den Apion, p. 230, Basel, 1877 Pauly-Wissowa, RealEneye. ii. s.v. Gratz, Gesch. der Juden, 3d ed., iii. 347 et seq. Schfirer, Geseh. 3d ed., iii. 400-403; Vogelstetn and Rieger, Geseh. der Juden in Rom, i. 85 Th. Reinach, Textes d'Au:











Romains

teurs Grees et

Relatifs

au

Juda'isme, pp. 60 et

H. G. E.

Q.

APOLLONIUS OF TTANA:

Pythagorean philosopher and necromancer; born about the year 3 B.C. died, according to some sources, in the thirtyeighth year of his age. In Arabic literature his name is cited in the form "Balinas" or "Belenus," which has often been mistaken for "Pliny." He is. mentioned in connection with magical writings, and is called by the Arabs Sahib al-Talismat ("The Au;

thor of Talismans"). They attribute to Apollonius "Risalahfi Tathir al-Ruhamiyat fi al-Markabat," a work that treats of the influence of pneumatic agencies in the world of sense, and which also deals with talismans. An introduction (" Mebo ") to this treatise on talismans, "Iggeret al-Talasm," was composed by an anonymous writer it is found in Steinschneider MS. No. 29. It is full of Arabic words, and contains a few Romance ones also. The translator says at the end that the whole book is of no value, and that he has translated (or copied) it merely as a warning against "serving strange gods." It is probable that a copy of this translation existed in the library of Leon Mosconi (Majorca, 14th century); where it seems to occur under the title " Bel Enus " No. 37 of the catalogue ("Rev. Et. Juives," xxxix. 256, xl It is also cited by Joseph Nasi (16th century) 65).

,

—

and perhaps by Abba Mail According to Johanan Allemanno (died 1500), Solomon ben Nathan Orgueiri (of Aix, Provence, about 1390) translated from the Latin another work on magic by Apollonius. The Hebrew title of this second work was nf'OB'lD )"DN^D ("Intellectual Art"); fragments of

SchonblumMS., No.

it

are found in

79.

For Apollonius and his supposed writings see Pauly-Wissowa, ReaLEncyiinpUdie der Classic sehen AUerthumswissenschaft, iii. 146 et seq. and Goton the Arabic and Hebrewtbeil, in Z. D. M. G. xlyi. 466 translations see Steinschneider, Hebr. Uetters. § 520 ( = Z. Canon des A. T. p. 99, atFiirst, D. M. G. xlv. 439 et seq.) tempted to identity Apollonius with Ben La'anah, whose wrixi. 28 a) Yer. Sanh. condemned ( tings were

Bibliography



J. Miller, in







G.

APOLLOS

A

learned Jew of Alexandria, and Of him the following is told colaborer of Paul. (Acts xviii. 24-28) He came (about 56) to Ephesus, as "an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures," to preach and to teach in the synagogue; and his fervor of spirit and boldness of speech attracted the