Brief biography of Aesop and Interesting Facts The life of the ancient Greek fable writer is described in this article. Brief story about Aesop will help you learn a lot of interesting things about this personality.

Biography of Aesop for children

It is reliably known that the ancient Greek figure lived in the middle of the 6th century. This is all that can be said with certainty. The rest is fiction and conjecture. History has not preserved information about his life. Pieces of information can be found in Herodotus. The historian claims that Aesop served as a slave for a master named Iadmon, who lived on the island of Samos. The fabulist was known as an obstinate worker and often made absurd jokes that amused the other slaves. At first, the owner was outraged by his behavior, but he soon realized that his worker had an exceptionally extraordinary mind, and set him free. That's all we can learn from the works of Herodotus about this man.

Some more information can be extracted from the works of the historian Heraclitus of Pontus. It indicates other information. Heraclitus of Pontus claims that Aesop's birthplace was Thrace. Its first owner's name was Xanthus, he was a philosopher. But Aesop was much smarter than Xanthus. He constantly laughed at his master's wise sayings and his philosophy. And he set his slave free.

Nothing more is known about his life. There is only a legend about his death, and a collection of fables has survived.

The legend of his death says the following. One day, the ruler Croesus sends Aesop to Delphi. The reason for this action is unknown. Arriving in the city, as usual, the fabulist began to teach the inhabitants of Delphi. They were very indignant at his behavior and began to think about how to take revenge on Aesop. And they came up with an idea: they threw a cup from a local temple into his knapsack and informed the priest that the fabulist was a thief. No matter how hard Aesop tried to prove that he was innocent, it was all in vain. He was sentenced to execution: they brought him to a heavy rock and forced him to jump from it. This is how the fabulist from Ancient Greece ended his journey absurdly.

A collection of Aesop's fables has survived to this day. But an interesting point is that it was compiled in the Middle Ages. Therefore, it is impossible to say for sure that this is the true legacy of the ancient Greek fabulist.

• Aesop's fables have their own twist. They are based on a folk fable with a long history. They present everyday live scenes.
• His creations were often subject to distortion. First it was retold by the Roman fabulist Phaedrus, then by the Greek writer Babriy and Lafontaine, Dmitriev, Izmailov.
• Aesop was often portrayed as a hunchbacked and short old man who spoke with a lisp. It was rumored that he had a repulsive appearance.
• He is the founder of the fable genre and the artistic language of allegories, named after him - Aesopian language.
• Aesop's fables, of which about 400 have survived, have a special function. They push the listener to think.

A 5th grader can present a message about Aesop at a literature lesson.

Old Greek Αἴσωπος

legendary ancient Greek poet and fabulist

around 600 BC

short biography

- semi-mythical ancient Greek fabulist who lived in the 6th century BC. e. He is considered the founder of the fable genre; The allegorical manner of expressing thoughts that is used to this day is named after him - Aesopian language.

Today it is not known for certain whether such an author of the fables actually existed or whether they belonged to different persons, and the image of Aesop is a collective one. Information about his biography is often contradictory and historically unconfirmed. Aesop is first mentioned by Herodotus. According to his version, Aesop served as a slave, and his master was a certain Iadmon from the island of Samos, who later granted him freedom. He lived when the Egyptian king Amasis reigned, i.e. in 570-526 BC e. The Delphians killed him, for which the descendants of Iadmon subsequently received a ransom.

Tradition calls Phrygia (Asia Minor) the homeland of Aesop. According to some sources, Aesop was at the court of King Croesus of Lydia. Centuries later, Heraclides of Pontus would attribute Aesop's origins from Thrace, and name a certain Xanthus as his first master. At the same time, this information is the author’s own conclusions made on the basis of Herodotus’ data. In Aristophanes' "Wasps" you can find information about the circumstances of his death, i.e. about the false accusation of stealing property from the temple at Delphi and about the fable “About the Beetle and the Eagle” allegedly told by Aesop before his death. In another century, the statements of characters in comedy will be perceived as historical fact. At the end of the 4th century. comedian Alexid, whose pen the comedy “Aesop” belonged to, talks about his involvement with the seven wise men and his relationship with King Croesus. In Lysippos, who lived at the same time, Aesop already heads this glorious cohort.

The main plot of Aesop's biography arose towards the end of the 4th century BC. e. and was embodied in several editions of “Aesop’s Life,” written in the vernacular. If the early authors did not say anything about the features of the fabulist’s appearance, then in the “Biography” Aesop appears as a hunchbacked freak, but at the same time a wit and a great sage, who can easily deceive the owner and representatives of the upper class. Aesop's fables are not even mentioned in this version.

If in ancient world no one questioned the historicity of the fabulist’s personality, then in the 16th century. Luther was the first to open the debate on this issue. A number of researchers in the 18th and 19th centuries. talked about the legendary and mythical nature of the image; in the 20th century, opinions were divided; some authors have argued that a historical prototype of Aesop may well have existed.

Be that as it may, Aesop is considered the author of more than four hundred fables told in prose. Most likely, they were transmitted orally for a long time. In the IV-III centuries. BC e. 10 books of fables were compiled by Demetrius of Thales, but after the 9th century. n. e. this vault was lost. Subsequently, Aesop's fables were translated into Latin by other authors (Phaedrus, Flavius ​​Avianus); The name of Babrius remained in history, who, borrowing stories from Aesop, presented them in Greek in poetic form. Aesop's fables, the main characters of which in the vast majority of cases were animals, became a rich source for borrowing plots by fabulists of subsequent times. In particular, they served as sources of inspiration for J. Lafontaine, G. Lessing, I. A. Krylov.

Biography from Wikipedia

Biography in the ancient tradition

Whether he was a historical figure is impossible to say. He was first mentioned by Herodotus, who reports (II, 134) that Aesop was a slave of a certain Iadmon from the island of Samos, then was set free, lived during the time of the Egyptian king Amasis (570-526 BC) and was killed by the Delphians ; for his death, Delphi paid a ransom to the descendants of Iadmon.

More than a hundred years later, Heraclides of Pontus writes that Aesop came from Thrace, was a contemporary of Pherecydes, and his first master was called Xanthus. But this data is extracted from an earlier story by Herodotus through unreliable inferences (for example, Thrace as the birthplace of Aesop is inspired by the fact that Herodotus mentions Aesop in connection with the Thracian heteroa Rhodopis, who was also a slave to Iadmon). Aristophanes ("Wasps") already provides details about Aesop's death - the wandering motif of a planted cup, which served as the reason for his accusation, and the fable of the eagle and the beetle, which he told before his death. A century later, this statement of Aristophanes’ heroes is repeated as historical fact. The comedian Plato (late 5th century) already mentions the posthumous reincarnations of Aesop’s soul. The comedian Alexis (late 4th century), who wrote the comedy “Aesop,” pits his hero against Solon, that is, he already interweaves the legend of Aesop into the cycle of legends about the seven wise men and King Croesus. His contemporary Lysippos also knew this version, depicting Aesop at the head of the seven wise men. Slavery at Xanthus, connection with the seven sages, death from the treachery of the Delphic priests - all these motives became links in the subsequent Aesopian legend, the core of which was formed by the end of the 4th century. BC e.

The most important monument to this tradition was the anonymous late antique novel (in Greek) known as the Life of Aesop. The novel has survived in several editions: its oldest fragments on papyrus date back to the 2nd century. n. e.; in Europe since the 11th century. The Byzantine edition of the Biography came into circulation.

In the Biography, Aesop’s deformity (not mentioned by early authors) plays an important role; Phrygia (a stereotypical place associated with slaves) becomes his homeland instead of Thrace; Aesop appears as a sage and joker, fooling kings and his master, a stupid philosopher. In this plot, surprisingly, Aesop’s fables themselves play almost no role; the anecdotes and jokes told by Aesop in his “Biography” are not included in the collection of “Aesop’s fables” that has come down to us from antiquity and are quite far from it in terms of genre. The image of the ugly, wise and cunning “Phrygian slave” in finished form goes to the new European tradition.

Antiquity did not doubt the historicity of Aesop. Luther first questioned it in the 16th century. Eighteenth-century philology substantiated this doubt (Richard Bentley), nineteenth-century philology took it to its extreme: Otto Crusius and after him Rutherford asserted the mythical nature of Aesop with a decisiveness characteristic of the hypercriticism of their era.

Heritage

Aesopus moralisatus, 1485

Under the name of Aesop, a collection of fables (of 426 short works) in prose has been preserved. There is reason to assume that in the era of Aristophanes (end of the 5th century) in Athens a written collection of Aesop's fables was known, from which children were taught at school; “You are ignorant and lazy, you haven’t even learned Aesop,” says one character in Aristophanes. These were prosaic retellings, without any artistic decoration. In fact, the so-called “Aesop's Collection” included fables from various eras.

In the 3rd century BC. e. his fables were recorded in 10 books by Demetrius of Phalerum (c. 350 - c. 283 BC). This collection was lost after the 9th century. n. e.

In the 1st century, the freedman of Emperor Augustus, Phaedrus, translated these fables into Latin iambic verse (many of Phaedrus’s fables are of original origin), and Avian, around the 4th century, rearranged 42 fables into Latin elegiac distich; in the Middle Ages, Avian's fables, despite their not very high artistic level, were very popular. Latin versions of many of Aesop's fables, with the addition of later tales and then medieval fabliaux, formed the so-called collection "Romulus". About 100 n. e. Babrius, who apparently lived in Syria, a Roman by origin, set out Aesop’s fables in Greek verses in the size of a holyammb. The works of Babrius were included by Planud (1260-1310) in his famous collection, which influenced later fabulists.

Aesop 150 BC e. (Villa Albani collection), Rome

Interest in Aesop's fables extended to his personality; in the absence of reliable information about him, they resorted to legend. The Phrygian talker, who allegorically reviled the powers that be, naturally seemed to be a grumpy and angry man, like Homer’s Thersites, and therefore the portrait of Thersites, depicted in detail by Homer, was transferred to Aesop. He was presented as hunchbacked, lame, with the face of a monkey - in a word, ugly in all respects and directly opposite to the divine beauty of Apollo; This is how he was depicted in sculpture, by the way - in that interesting statue that has survived to us.

Martin Luther discovered that Aesop's book of fables is not the sole work of one author, but a collection of older and newer fables, and that the traditional image of Aesop is the fruit of a “poetic tale.”

Aesop's fables have been translated (often revised) into many languages ​​of the world, including by the famous fabulists Jean La Fontaine and I.A. Krylov.

In the USSR, the most complete collection of Aesop's fables translated by M. L. Gasparov was published by the Nauka publishing house in 1968.

In Western literary criticism, Aesop's fables (the so-called "esopics") are usually identified according to Edwin Perry's reference book (see Perry Index), where 584 works are systematized mainly according to linguistic, chronological and paleographic criteria.

Some fables

• White Jackdaw
• Ox and Lion
• Camel
• Wolf and Crane
• Wolf and Shepherds
• Crows and other birds
• Crows and Birds
• Raven and fox
• Jackdaw and Dove
• Dove and Crows
• Rook and Fox
• Two friends and a bear
• Two cancers
• Two frogs
• Wild Goat and grape branch
• Wild dog
• Hare and Frogs
• Zeus and Camel
• Zeus and shame
• Snake and Peasant
• Boar and Fox
• Goat and Shepherd
• Peasant and his sons
• Hen and Swallow
• Chicken and Egg
• Partridge and Hens
• Swallow and other birds
• Lion and Donkey
• Lion and Goat
• Lion and Mosquito
• Lion and Bear
• Lion and mouse
• Lion with other animals on the hunt
• Lion, Wolf and Fox
• Lion, Fox and Donkey
• Bat
• Fox and Stork
• Fox and Ram
• Fox and Dove
• Fox and Woodcutter
• Fox and Donkey
• Fox and grapes
• Horse and Donkey
• Lioness and Fox
• Frog, Rat and Crane
• Frogs and Snake
• Mouse and Frog
• Mouse from the City and Mouse from the Country
• Both chickens
• Both frogs
• Deer
• Deer and Lion
• Eagle and Jackdaw
• Eagle and Fox
• Eagle and Turtle
• Donkey and Goat
• Donkey and Fox
• Donkey and Horse
• Donkey, Rook and Shepherd
• Father and Sons
• Peacock and Jackdaw
• Shepherd and Wolf
• Shepherd joker
• Rooster and Diamond
• Rooster and Servant
• Dog and Ram
• Dog and Wolf
• Dog and piece of meat
• Old Lion and Fox
• Three bulls and a lion
• Reed and Olive Tree
• Boastful pentathlete
• Man and Partridge
• Tortoise and Hare
• Jupiter and Snake
• Jupiter and Bees
• Lamb and Wolf

Literature

Translations

• In the series: “Collection Budé”: Esope. Fables. Texte établi et traduit par E. Chambry. 5e circulation 2002. LIV, 324 p.

Russian translations.

Who is Aesop? Every person who likes such instructive literary works as fables should know the answer to this question. The ancient Greek writer is considered practically the founding father of the genre, but the existence of this character still remains unproven. His biography consists, rather, of legends, many of which contradict each other, than of reliable facts.

- man or legend?

For the first time, the existence of this character was doubted in the 16th century; before him, no one disputed the fact of the life of the ancient Greek writer. Since then, the discussion has not stopped; scientists have divided into several camps, offering different versions of the answer to the question of who Aesop is.

Supporters of the theory confirming the historicity of the writer provide a lot of arguments that can indirectly prove his existence. However, even they are unable to deny the fact that practically nothing is known about the appearance of the fabulist Aesop. In biographies that examine his personality, he is endowed with various traits. There is even a popular version that says that the fabulist was a hunchback and had an extremely repulsive appearance.

The character of the sage is described by all authors in approximately the same way. Who is Aesop, according to their characteristics? A cunning, resourceful person, endowed with a sharp mind and sense of humor, capable of deceiving anyone. He is often credited with such qualities as grumpiness and malice. However, these characteristics are also practically not confirmed by facts, only by surviving legends.

Biography of the writer

The fabulist Aesop, if you believe in his existence, was born in the 6th century BC. All popular legends about his origin indicate that the writer was born and raised in slavery; this fact is not disputed by historians. The most common version says that this man was the property of the owner, whose name was Iadmon, who lived on this theory. This theory became widespread thanks to the Greek historian Herodotus, who insisted on it.

Who is Aesop, assuming that the information possessed by Herodotus is correct? The scientist argued that the writer was a freedman who fell at the hands of the Delphic priests. At the same time, Iadmon insisted on the ransom, which he received from the temple servants. It is assumed that the execution of the sage is connected with his ridicule of the god Apollo, which the people who worshiped him could not tolerate.

There is another version that insists that Aesop’s owner was Xanthus, and that the writer was born in Thrace. The basis for such statements was the study of fables attributed to the semi-legendary hero, as well as the processing of information provided by Herodotus.

What is known about fables

Did a man named Aesop really live, or is this just a beautiful legend? He is credited with creating more than 450 fables. It is assumed that the works were written in poetic form, but the original has not survived. Aesop's fables have reached our contemporaries in the form of retellings and are presented in prose. It is also believed that they originally traveled from generation to generation by word of mouth.

The first to combine the fabulist's works into volumes was Demetrius of Phalerum; at least, his works are the oldest known. In the third century BC, Demetrius created 10 books; unfortunately, they were lost more than 10 centuries ago. Further, other scientists began to translate the fables into Latin and write them down, for example, Flavius ​​Avianus.

Features of the works

Aesop's thoughts about the world had a great influence on many writers who lived much later than the legendary character. It is not surprising, because he invented an entire universe, the inhabitants of which were animals, birds, and insects. Since people are not the heroes of the works, the instructive lesson takes on an allegorical character.

The stories attributed to the fabulist fascinate with their brevity, simplicity and uncomplicated morality. The object of ridicule in them are vices that people have not been able to get rid of to this day. This gives Aesop's works an enduring relevance. Instructive conclusion - characteristic, characteristic of all fables without exception. The person reading them does not have to independently guess where exactly the main character made a mistake.

The writer invites readers to think about their own behavior, actions, views on the world, to separate true values ​​from false ones. His writings are useful for people of all ages, starting from the youngest children. It is still better for the latter to get acquainted with instructive creativity with the help of Krylov’s fables.

Plots of works

Many plots of fables supposedly written by Aesop are familiar to people from early childhood. Hardly anyone has not heard of children who, in a vain search for their father's inheritance, dug up the entire vineyard. About a fox who, not by force, but by cunning and flattery, robbed the raven of his food, leaving the unfortunate bird a fool. About a fox who justified his inability to get grapes located on a too high branch by saying that they were not yet ripe. About how the flea was caught and what came of it.

Influence on other writers

Russian Aesop is the name given to the writer Ivan Krylov, whose ancient Greek sage truly had a colossal influence. To be convinced of this, you just need to remember the famous story about the raven, the fox and the cheese, and then compare it with the “original”. Indeed, almost all the plots of popular Krylov fables are taken from works that have survived from ancient times. This does not mean that the writer can be accused of plagiarism. It is his works, written in simple language, ideal for reading to young children, that are considered an impeccable example of the modern genre.

Those who like the fables of Krylov and Aesop can also pay attention to the work of other writers who actively used ancient Greek stories as a source of inspiration. For example, the works of the Frenchman Jean de La Fontaine, “simplified” translations of Leo Tolstoy.

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Presentation on the topic: Aesop. Ancient Greek fabulist

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It is impossible to say whether Aesop was a historical figure. The first news about him is found in Herodotus, who reports (II, 134) that Aesop was a slave of a certain Iadmon from the island of Samos, then was set free, lived during the time of the Egyptian king Amasis (570-526 BC) and was killed by the Delphians; for his death, Delphi paid a ransom to the descendants of Iadmon. Heraclides of Pontus, more than a hundred years later, writes that Aesop came from Thrace, was a contemporary of Pherecydes, and his first owner was called Xanthus. But this data is extracted from an earlier story by Herodotus through unreliable inferences (for example, Thrace as the birthplace of Aesop is inspired by the fact that Herodotus mentions Aesop in connection with the Thracian heteroa Rhodopis, who was also a slave to Iadmon). Aristophanes ("Wasps", 1446-1448) already reports details about Aesop's death - the wandering motif of a planted cup, which served as the reason for his accusation, and the fable of the eagle and the beetle, told by him before his death. A century later, this statement of Aristophanes’ heroes is repeated as a historical fact. The comedian Plato (late 5th century) already mentions the posthumous reincarnations of Aesop’s soul. The comedian Alexis (late 4th century), who wrote the comedy “Aesop,” pits his hero against Solon, that is, he already interweaves the legend of Aesop into the cycle of legends about the seven wise men and King Croesus. His contemporary Lysippos also knew this version, depicting Aesop at the head of the seven wise men.

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Slavery at Xanthus, connection with the seven sages, death from the treachery of the Delphic priests - all these motives became links in the subsequent Aesopian legend, the core of which was formed by the end of the 4th century. BC e. The most important monument of this tradition was the “Biography of Aesop,” compiled in the vernacular language, which survived in several editions. In this version, Aesop’s deformity (not mentioned by early authors) plays an important role; Phrygia (a stereotypical place associated with slaves) becomes his homeland instead of Thrace; Aesop appears as a sage and joker, fooling kings and his master, a stupid philosopher. In this plot, surprisingly, Aesop’s fables themselves play almost no role; the anecdotes and jokes told by Aesop in his “Biography” are not included in the collection of “Aesop’s fables” that has come down to us from antiquity and are quite far from it in terms of genre. The image of the ugly, wise and cunning “Phrygian slave” in finished form goes to the modern European tradition. Antiquity did not doubt the historicity of Aesop. Luther first questioned it in the 16th century. The philology of the 18th century substantiated this doubt, the philology of the 19th century took it to the limit: Otto Crusius and after him Rutherford asserted the mythical nature of Aesop with a decisiveness characteristic of the hypercriticism of their era. In the 20th century, individual authors admitted the possibility of the existence of a historical prototype of Aesop.

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The Eagle and the Beetle The eagle was chasing a hare. The hare saw that there was no help for him from anywhere, and he prayed to the only one who turned up for him - to the dung beetle. The beetle encouraged him and, seeing an eagle in front of him, began to ask the predator not to touch the one who was looking for his help. The eagle did not even pay attention to such an insignificant defender and devoured the hare. But the beetle did not forget this insult: he tirelessly watched the eagle’s nest, and every time the eagle laid eggs, he rose to the heights, rolled them out and broke them. Finally, the eagle, finding peace nowhere, sought refuge with Zeus himself and asked to be given a quiet place to hatch his eggs. Zeus allowed the eagle to put eggs in his bosom. The beetle, seeing this, rolled up a dung ball, flew up to Zeus and dropped his ball into his bosom. Zeus stood up to shake off the dung and accidentally dropped the eagle's eggs. Since then, they say, eagles do not build nests at the time when dung beetles hatch. The fable teaches that no one should be despised, for no one is so powerless as not to avenge an insult.

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Wise quotes from Aesop Gratitude is a sign of the nobility of the soul. They say that Chilo asked Aesop: “What is Zeus doing?” Aesop replied: “He makes the high low, and the low high.” If a person takes on two things that are directly opposite to each other, he will certainly fail in one of them. Each person is given his own task, and each task has its own time. A true treasure for people - ability to work.

Biographical information about Aesop is legendary. Here, for example, is what information about him is given by the Russian Encyclopedic Dictionary.

Aesop, an ancient Greek fabulist of the 6th century BC, considered the creator of the fable. Legends depict Aesop as a holy fool, a folk sage (in the guise of a lame slave), innocently thrown from a cliff. The plots of almost all fables known in antiquity (“Aesop’s Fables”) were attributed to Aesop, which were processed by many fabulists - from Phaedrus and Babrius to J. Lafontaine and I.A. Krylov.

The Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhausen and Efron provides more complete information.

Aesop is the founder of the “Aesopian” fable named after him. According to the most ancient legend, he lived around the middle of the 6th century. BC, was a slave of the Samian Jadmon and died a violent death in Delphi. Later, Asia Minor was called his homeland, which is quite plausible, since the nature of his name is consistent with this. His death in Delphi was adorned with a legend: while in Delphi, he aroused several citizens against him with his slander, and they decided to punish him. To do this, they stole a golden cup from temple utensils, secretly put it in Aesop’s knapsack and then sounded the alarm; it was ordered to search the pilgrims, the cup was found on Aesop, and he, like a blasphemer, was stoned. Many years later a miraculous discovery of Aesop's innocence followed; the descendants of his murderers were forced to pay a penalty, for which the grandson of that Jadmon, who was his master, came to receive it.

As for Aesop's fable, by this name the ancients meant one in which the characters were animals and other dumb creatures and objects. Another variety was the so-called sybaritic fable, in which people performed; in addition, there were also Libyan, Egyptian, Cypriot, Carian, and Cilician fables. The named localities all lie on the outskirts of the Greek world; this is in connection with the often noticed fact that works of folk literature are better preserved and attract attention earlier precisely on the outskirts, where antagonism with other nationalities makes us value the treasury of national legends more. According to this, we will have to see in the Phrygian Aesop simply a collector and reteller Greek fables; his popularity was the reason why every fable of an “esopic” nature was attributed to him. There is reason to believe that in the era of Aristophanes in Athens a written collection of Aesop's fables was known, from which children were taught at school; “You are ignorant and lazy, you didn’t even learn Aesop!”, says one character in Aristophanes. These were prosaic retellings, without any artistic decoration. A collection of Aesop's fables in prose was compiled at the end of the 4th century. Dmitry Falersky. From antiquity only free poetic adaptations of Babrius in Greek, Phaedrus and Avienus in Latin have reached us; the same dry prose retellings that are entitled in manuscripts as “Aesop’s Fables” were all compiled in the Middle Ages. Interest in Aesop's fables extended to his personality; in the absence of reliable information about him, they resorted to legend. He was presented as hunchbacked, lame, with the face of a monkey - in a word, ugly in all respects and directly opposite to the divine beauty of Apollo. In the Middle Ages, an anecdotal biography of Aesop was composed in Byzantium, which was long accepted as a source of reliable information about him. Aesop is represented here as a slave, sold for next to nothing, constantly offended by fellow slaves, overseers, and masters, but able to successfully take revenge on his offenders. This biography not only did not stem from the genuine tradition of Aesop - it was not even of Greek origin. Aesop's biography gained wide popularity and was early translated into many languages.

The English researcher G.K. Chesterton believes that if Aesop existed, then he was obviously a Phrygian slave, or at least a person who did not deserve the Phrygian cap of freedom. He lived around the sixth century BC, during the time of that same Croesus, whose story evokes in us a feeling of admiration and mistrust.

There are also stories that Aesop was allegedly a freak and foul-mouthed; stories that explain, but in no way justify, the behavior of those who pushed him into the deep abyss at Delphi. However, let those who read his fables judge for themselves what he was guilty of: ugliness and intemperance or, on the contrary, morality and piety. Aesop could be fiction, like Uncle Remus, but he could also be reality, like Uncle Remus. After all, it is truly known that in the old days they could bow to slaves, as they bowed to Aesop, or love them, as they loved Uncle Remus. It is curious that both great slaves best stories wrote about animals and birds.

Herodotus claimed that Aesop lived in the 6th century BC. and was a slave, and Plutarch said that Aesop lived in the 6th century BC. and was an adviser to the legendary Lydian king Croesus. And the 1st century AD Egyptian biographer claims that Aesop was a slave on the island of Samos, then received freedom from his master and headed to Babylon, where he met the legendary Spartan legislator Lycurgus and asked him riddles, and met his death in Delphi - there is information that he was killed.

As we see, there are no reliable sources about the life of Aesop (pay attention to the links: it is believed, according to the most ancient legend). It is possible that Aesop is nothing more than a fictitious name.