Apollonius of Rhodes (or Apollonius Rhodius) (lived 3rd century BC)

Greek poet. He was the author of the epic Argonautica, which tells the story of Jason and the Argonauts and their quest for the Golden Fleece. A pupil of Callimachus, he was for a time head of the library at Alexandria.

Apollonius was innovative in making Medea's love for Jason an integral part of his story. It is likely that Virgil was influenced by this when he wrote about Dido's love for Aeneas.

Although he was born at Alexandria or Naucratis, he was called ‘the Rhodian’ because he lived much of his life in retirement at Rhodes. He had a feud with Callimachus over the merits of long epic narrative as against Callimachus's short, highly polished poems.