Apellicon's chief pursuit was the collection of rare and important books. He purchased from the family of
Neleus of Scepsis in the
Troad manuscripts of the works of
Aristotle and
Theophrastus (including their libraries), which had been given to Neleus by Theophrastus himself, whose pupil Neleus had been. They had been concealed in a cellar to prevent their falling into the hands of the book-collecting princes of
Pergamon, and were in a very dilapidated condition. Apellicon was a lover of books rather than a philosopher; trying to restore the damaged copies he made new ones, filling up the
lacunae incorrectly, and published them full of mistakes. In 84 BC
Sulla removed Apellicon's library to
Rome. Here the manuscripts were handed over to the grammarian
Tyrannion of Amisus, who took copies of them, on the basis of which the
peripatetic philosopher
Andronicus of Rhodes prepared an edition of Aristotle's works. Apellicon of Teos was a very rich individual who had bought up the library of Aristotle amongst many other books when he was a Peripatetic philosopher — other sources inform us that he was a
mint magistrate under Athenion, tyrant of Athens. Apellicon, furthermore, secretly acquired — that is, stole — the original documents from the Athenian
Metroon, the building that housed the city’s public documents. Particularly significant in this passage is the precedence given to Aristotle’s books, one that eclipses other writing and documents acquired by the Peripatetic. Considering that Apellicon appears from sources to have been something of a rogue, there is reason to believe that he may have fabricated the account of how he acquired the library in order to enhance its reputation. Apellicon's library contained a remarkable old copy of the
Iliad. He is said to have published a biography of Aristotle, in which the calumnies of other biographers were refuted. ==Notes==