Apollonius Rhodius, the author of the Argonautics, an epic poem on the voyage of the Argo, flourished at the close of the 3d century B. 0. He spent much of his youth in Alexandria, of which he is supposed to have been a native, and there composed his poem, which is still extant. He read it publicly, but the Alexandrians treated it with contempt; and this so angered him that he left the city and went to Rhodes, where he long resided, taking his surname from the town. The Rhodians received his work with the greatest favor. Later in life he returned to Alexandria, and, by reading the revised poem in full, so changed the opinion of it held by the Alexandrians that they covered him with honors. He was made librarian of the museum, an office which he is supposed to have held till his death. He was buried in the same tomb with Callimachus, with whom in his youth he had had a violent quarrel regarding the merits of his poem. His epic, in four books (Argonautica), gives a simple, beautiful, and vigorous sketch of the Argo's expedition.

Apollonius also wrote epigrams (of which one on Callimachus is still extant), and several works which are lost.