Claudius Apollinaris

{{about|the 1st-century naval commander|the 2nd-century Christian leader and writer|Apollinaris Claudius}}

Claudius Apollinaris was a man of ancient Rome who succeeded Sextus Lucilius Bassus as the commander, or praefectus classis, of Lucius Vitellius's fleet at Misenum, when Bassus defected to Vespasian's side in the year 70 AD.Tacitus, Histories 3.57, 76,77{{cite book | last =Fields | first =Nic | title =AD69: Emperors, Armies and Anarchy | publisher =Pen and Sword | date =2014 | quote =A man neither firm in his loyalty, nor energetic in his treason. | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=jUERBQAAQBAJ | isbn = 9781473838147 | accessdate=2016-02-28}} Apollinaris himself soon defected to Vespasian as well,{{cite book | last =Newton | first =Homer Curtis | editor-last=Bennett | editor-first=Charles Edwin | editor2-last=Sterrett | editor2-first=John Robert Sitlington | editor3-last=Bristol | editor3-first=George Prentice | title=The Epigraphical Evidence for the Reigns of Vespasian and Titus | series =Cornell Studies in Classical Philology | publisher =Cornell University Press | volume =16 | date =1901 | pages =8 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=rIQLAAAAIAAJ | accessdate=2016-02-28}} and he escaped with six galleys.