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The Apion family ((ギリシア語:Ἀπίων, plural Ἀπίωνες, ''Apiones'')) was a wealthy clan of landholders in Byzantine Egypt, especially in the Middle Egyptian nomes of Oxyrhynchus, Arsinoe and Heracleopolis Magna. Beginning as local aristocracy in the 5th century, it rose to great prominence in the 5th, 6th and early 7th centuries, when several successive heads of the family occupied high imperial offices, including the consulship. The family disappears after the Sassanid conquest of Egypt. == History == The family's origin is uncertain. A certain Aurelius Apion, who was augustalian prefect of Egypt some time before 328, as well as a slightly later Flavius Strategius, ''comes'' and ''praeses'' of Thebais, can not be shown to have belonged to the family. The earliest member of this family, Strategius I, is attested in a series of papyri from Oxyrhynchus. He served as an administrator in the imperial estates (the ''domus divina'') in the 430s, eventually rising to head administrator of the ''domus divina'' in the entire Oxyrhynchite nome. He later advanced to the title of ''comes sacri consistorii'' and the rank of ''vir spectabilis'', until his death some time before December 469. Strategius is known to have had one daughter, Isis, who may have married the man once thought to be the first known member of the family, Apion I. As more recent discoveries of papyri have shown, Apion I descended from another prominent line of local aristocracy, the Septimii Flaviani of the neighbouring Heracleopolite nome. His father, Flavianus, had even served as ''comes sacrarum largitionum'' in Constantinople. From a local position in Oxyrhynchus in 472, Apion I rose to become honorary consul (''apo hypaton'') by 497 and then ''patrikios'' by 503. He was responsible for provisioning the Byzantine forces in the Anastasian War against Sassanid Persia, but fell out of favour with Emperor Anastasius I and was exiled and forcibly ordained as a priest in 510, only to be recalled by Justin I in 518 and made praetorian prefect of the East. Sometime between 525 and 532, he was converted with his family to Chalcedonian orthodoxy, abjuring Monophysitism. Apion I had two sons, Herakleidas and Strategius II. Herakleidas is a relatively obscure figure: although possibly the elder of the two, he is known only to have served as city elder (''principalis'') at Heracleopolis, and to have been ordained a deacon at the time of his father's disgrace in 510. Strategius II is attested as a ''curialis'' in 489, was ''comes domesticorum'' in 497 and honorary consul and honorary ''magister militum'' by 518. He served as augustalian prefect sometime before 523. Under Justinian I, he became a ''patrikios'', was sent as an envoy to the Persians during the Iberian War, and served as ''comes sacrarum largitionum'' in 535–538. Among his duties in the latter post was overseeing the reconstruction of the Hagia Sophia, after its destruction in the Nika riots. He died in early 542. Strategius II was married to a certain Leontia. Their son, Apion II, received the ordinary consulship for the year 539, shortly after he came of age, marking the family's political apogee. At the time, like his father, he also held the title of ''comes domesticorum''. In later life he became a ''patrikios'' and ''protopatrikios'', which placed him among the senior-most members of the Byzantine Senate. Earlier works considered him as having been—possibly by proxy, with Apion himself remaining at Constantinople—a provincial governor in Egypt (''dux Thebaidos'' ca. 548–550 and pagarch in the Arsinoite nome ca. 556), but according to more recent research, these posts were most likely held by other Apiones. Apion II died in 578/9, and his inheritance was controlled collectively by an undetermined number of mostly unnamed heirs for eight years, after which three principal heirs emerge by name: the ''hypatissa'' Flavia Praeiecta, either the daughter of Apion II or his daughter-in-law (see appears to have been married to a Strategius), and her two sons, George and Apion III. George is last attested in 590 and Praiecta in 591, after which Apion III remained the sole heir of the Oxyrhynchus estates. Apion III married Eusebia, a scion of the Roman senatorial family of the Anicii, and had at least one son, Strategius IV. From letters of Pope Gregory the Great, the family lived at Constantinople. An honorary consul and ''patrikios'' by 604/5, Apion III died in late 619 or early January 620, a fact possibly connected with the Sassanid conquest of Egypt in the same period. The Apion household continues to be in evidence under the Persian occupation, at least until August 626, but is no longer mentioned thereafter. Another important member of the family, from a collateral branch of the family resident in the Heracleopolite and Arsinoite nomes, was another Strategius (known as "pseudo-Strategius III" in some sources). He is first attested in 591, and like his contemporary Apion III, was an honorary consul and ''patrikios'', as well as pagarch in the Heracleopolite and Arsinoite nomes. He was involved in the reconciliation of the Syrian and Egyptian Monophysite Churches in 616, but both he and his family disappear after the Persian conquest. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Apion (family)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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