Apollonius Molon or Molo of Rhodes (or simply Molon; grc, Ἀπολλώνιος ὁ Μόλων), was a Greek rhetorician. He was a native of

Alabanda Alabanda ( grc, Ἀλάβανδα) or Antiochia of the Chrysaorians was a city of ancient Caria, Anatolia, the site of which is near Doğanyurt, Çine, Aydın Province, Turkey. The city is located in the saddle between two heights. The area i ...

, a pupil of Menecles, and settled at Rhodes, where he opened a school of rhetoric. Prior to that, he twice visited Rome as an ambassador from Rhodes. This cites: * C. Müller, ''Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum'', iii. * Emil Schürer, ''Story of the Jewish People'', iii. (Eng. tr. 1886). Marcus Tullius Cicero studied with him during his trip to Greece in 79–77 BC, as did

Gaius Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, and ...

a few years later. Perhaps it is at least partially due to Apollonius Molon's instruction that Caesar, and Cicero especially, achieved fame as

orators Public speaking, also called oratory or oration, has traditionally meant the act of speaking face to face to a live audience. Today it includes any form of speaking (formally and informally) to an audience, including pre-recorded speech deliver ...

in the Roman Republic. Molon is reputed to have quoted Demosthenes in telling his pupils that the first three elements in rhetoric were "Delivery, Delivery and Delivery." He had a stellar reputation in Roman Law courts, and was even invited to address the Roman Senate in Greek – an honor not usually bestowed upon foreign ambassadors. Molon wrote on Homer and endeavored to moderate the florid

Asiatic style The Asiatic style or Asianism ( la, genus orationis Asiaticum, Cicero, ''Brutus'' 325) refers to an Ancient Greek rhetorical tendency (though not an organized school) that arose in the third century BC, which, although of minimal relevance at the ...

of rhetoric. According to Josephus, in '' Against Apion'', Apollonius Molon slandered the

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

s.Louis H. Feldman, Gōhei Hata ''Josephus, Judaism and Christianity'' 1987 p18 "Of this group, Manetho, Lysimachus, Chaeremon,

Apion Apion Pleistoneices ( el, Ἀπίων Πλειστονίκου ''Apíōn Pleistoníkēs''; 30–20 BC – c. AD 45–48), also called Apion Mochthos, was a Hellenized Egyptian grammarian, sophist, and commentator on Homer. He was born at the Si ...

, Posidonius, and Apollonius Molon (the last two are providers of material for Apion) are severely criticized in Josephus' ''Against Apion'' because they slandered and attacked Moses and the Jews by asserting that 1) the ancestors of the Jews were Egyptians... 10) Moses was a fraud and a charlatan whose commandments teach only evil, no virtue (Apollonius Molon, Lysimachus)."

Notes

Ancient Greek rhetoricians 1st-century BC Rhodians Roman-era Rhodians Roman Caria Year of death unknown Year of birth unknown {{AncientGreece-writer-stub