biography

Much of Aesop’s life is shrouded in mystery and there are various accounts of his life according to different sources. Aesop’s life was accounted in the works of many authors including Herodotus, Aristophanes and Plato although it is becoming widely accepted that many of these accounts bear little resemblance to the reality of his life. One thing common to most of these early sources is the assertion that Aesop was born into slavery sometime in the sixth century BC. The exact location of his birth is uncertain with Thrace, Phrygia, Aethiopia, Samos, Athens and Sardis all claiming him as their own. His death is an area which is generally agreed upon by most of the sources consulted; Aesop was sentenced to death and thrown from a cliff in Delphi although the actual reason for his death is widely disputed (reasons include the embezzlement of money and the theft of a silver cup).

As accounts of Aesop’s later life include him doing such things as dining with the Seven Sages of Greece (seven wise men who would meet at Delphi and dedicate their wise sayings to the god Apollo) and retelling his fable The Frogs Asking for a King to the citizens of Athens in order to dissuade them from attempting to overthrow their leading, it can be cautiously said that Aesop was freed from slavery at some point. Although the reason for his freedom is yet another disputed area of his life with some sources claiming that it was due to his wit and ability to write.
The fables known today as Aesop’s Fables were collected in the 14th Century by a Greek monk who described Aesop as a deformed ‘…monster of ugliness’ although claims of this deformation are now widely disputed.
The image we have of Aesop today as a fable-teller, teaching morals to our children would appear to be somewhat of a modern-day invention; the result of thousands of years of re-telling and re-counting of his life so much so that the Aesop we think of today almost takes on mythical proportions.

According to Hodnett (1979, 23) all of Aesop’s fable fit into one of two structures. Either: ‘A meets B and they talk; or, A meets B and one thing happens.’ He goes on to mention that either A or B acts as a mouthpiece for Aesop goes on to make a wise comment.
Zafiropoulos (2001, 1) also defines the characteristics Aesopic fables. His definition states that a fable is: ‘a brief and simplistic story with a constant structure, generally with animal protagonists… which gives an exemplary and popular message on practical ethics and which comment, usually in a cautionary way, on the course of action followed or avoided in a particular way.’
These characteristics are clearly demonstrated in the stories discussed in this part of the site.