Against Apion (Greek, Modern (1453-);: περὶ ἀρχαιότητος Ἰουδαίων λόγος Peri Archaiotētos Ioudaiōn Logos; Latin Contra Apionem or In Apionem) is a polemical work written by Flavius Josephus as a defense of Judaism as a classical religion and philosophy against criticism by Apion, stressing its antiquity against what he perceived as more recent traditions of the Greeks. One of his main sources was Menander of Ephesus. Against Apion cites Josephus' earlier work Antiquities of the Jews, so can be dated after C.E. 94. It was possibly written in the early second century.[1]
Against Apion 1:8 also defines which books Josephus viewed as being in the Hebrew Scriptures:
In the second book, Josephus defends the historicity of the Hebrew Bible against accusations made by Apion (who Josephus states is not Greek), arguing that Apion in fact rehashes material of Manetho's, though there was apparently some confusion between Manetho's references to the Hyksos and the Hebrews.
Josephus on Apion's blood libel (Against Apion 2:8):
As Josephus himself notes, his work "does not contain quotations from Manetho's original, but rather cites from one or perhaps even two epitomized and altered version of Manetho's Aegyptiaca. Written as a narrative, it covers only a portion of Manetho's history, roughly from the Fifteenth through the Nineteenth [Egyptian] dynasties, but it does describe shifts in control from one faction to another, consistent with dynastic divisions. There is no mention of numbered dynasties, and only 24 rulers are named."[2]