Apollonius ( grc, Απολλώνιος) was a

freedman A freedman or freedwoman is a formerly enslaved person who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, enslaved people were freed by manumission (granted freedom by their captor-owners), emancipation (granted freedom ...

of Publius Licinius Crassus in

ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–50 ...

in the 1st century BCE. Apollonius afterwards became a useful friend of

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the est ...

's, and served in the army of Julius Caesar in the

Alexandrine war Alexandrine is a name used for several distinct types of verse line with related metrical structures, most of which are ultimately derived from the classical French alexandrine. The line's name derives from its use in the Medieval French '' Rom ...

, and also followed him into Spain. He was a man of great diligence and learning, and anxious to write a history of the exploits of Caesar. For this reason Cicero gave him a very flattering letter of recommendation to Caesar. Apollonius is also believed to have written a biography of Crassus. Since he was

manumitted Manumission, or enfranchisement, is the act of freeing enslaved people by their enslavers. Different approaches to manumission were developed, each specific to the time and place of a particular society. Historian Verene Shepherd states that t ...

as a term of Publius's will, he is by Roman custom likely to have taken the name Publius Licinius Apollonius as a

. The highly laudatory account of Publius's death found in

Plutarch Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ...

suggests that Apollonius's biography was a source.For the available evidence on Apollonius, see

Andrew Lintott Andrew William Lintott (born 9 December 1936) is a British classical scholar who specialises in the political and administrative history of ancient Rome, Roman law and epigraphy. He is an emeritus fellow of Worcester College, University of Oxfo ...

, “A Historian in Cicero: ''Ad familiares'' – P. Licinius (?) Apollonius,” ''Rheinisches Museum für Philologie'' 119 (1976) 368. See also Elizabeth Rawson, '' Intellectual Life in the Late Roman Republic'' (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1985), pp. 79, 110, 229; F.B. Titchener, "Critical Trends in Plutarch's Roman Lives, 1975–1990," ''Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt'' 2.55.6 (De Gruyter 1992), p. 414
online.
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Notes

Imperial Roman slaves and freedmen Ancient Roman writers 1st-century BC Romans {{AncientRome-writer-stub