Aesop’s Fables | Moral Tales, Ancient Greece

Aesop’s Fables were stories recounted by Aesop (c. 620-560 BCE), a story teller who lived in Ancient Greece.
Each of the 725 Fables recounts an ordinary incident which underlines a deep insight into human behaviour. Many of today’s Everyday Expressions come from Aesop's Fables.

Aesop was born in Thrace in c. 620 BCE. Aristotle and Herodotus both relate that he was a slave in Samos.
He was later freed, and according to Plutarch appears to have acted as a Diplomat in Delphi, where he was apparently executed for insulting the Delphians.
Aesop is attributed to having assembled a collection of Fables still told today, and known as Aesop’s Fables.
Herodotus states that Aesop was a fable writer who lived in Ancient Greece.
The Fables have come down to us through the Greek Author Babrius and the Roman Authors Avianus and Phaedrus.

Phaedrus (15 BCE-50 CE) was the first known Roman Fable writer to translate and copy Aesop’s Fables and other stories into Latin.

Babrius, around 200 CE, writing in Greek, wrote down many of the stories known today as Aesop's Fables.
Although Aesop lived and recounted his Fables between 620-564 BCE, they were passed on through the Oral Tradition and not written down until several hundred years later by Babrius.

Around 400 CE, Avianus translated Babrius’ collection of Aesop’s Fables into Latin.

In French Literature, Jean de La Fontaine published 239 Fables in 12 books between 1668-1694 CE.
The first six books are based on the classical sources of Aesop’s Fables, and the writings of Babrius and Phaedrus. The remaining books draw mainly from Indian sources.