<P> The earliest surviving account of the episode is found in Aulus Gellius 's 2nd century Attic Nights . The author relates there a story told by Apion in his lost work Aegyptiacorum ( Wonders of Egypt ) , the events of which Apion claimed to have personally witnessed in Rome . In this version , Androcles is given the Latin name of Androclus , a runaway slave of a former Roman consul administering a part of Africa . He takes shelter in a cave , which turns out to be the den of a wounded lion , from whose paw he removes a large thorn . In gratitude , the lion becomes tame towards him and henceforward shares his catch with the slave . </P>
<P> The earliest surviving account of the episode is found in Aulus Gellius 's 2nd century Attic Nights . The author relates there a story told by Apion in his lost work Aegyptiacorum ( Wonders of Egypt ) , the events of which Apion claimed to have personally witnessed in Rome . In this version , Androcles is given the Latin name of Androclus , a runaway slave of a former Roman consul administering a part of Africa . He takes shelter in a cave , which turns out to be the den of a wounded lion , from whose paw he removes a large thorn . In gratitude , the lion becomes tame towards him and henceforward shares his catch with the slave . </P>
who pulled the thorn from the lions paw
who pulled the thorn from the lions paw
Androcles
Androcles