Aesop years of life. Who is Aesop: biography, creativity and interesting facts. What is known about fables

Aesop's work left a significant mark on the literary world, and his aphorisms became well-known, remaining relevant today. In ancient times they did not express any doubts about the historicity of the image, but in the 16th century this fact was first called into question.

Aesop's biography is legendary, and his origins are shrouded in mystery. According to some information, he lived around the middle of the 6th century BC. He was supposedly a short slave from Phrygia, with sharp features and a hump.

Despite such external features, Aesop had an amazing gift of words, a sharp mind and a talent for creating fables. It is unknown which family the future fabulist came from, and there is also no information about his parents. Its homeland is sometimes called Asia Minor, which sounds plausible due to the nature of the name.

According to one version of Aesop's life, the first owner decided to sell a talkative and useless slave of unknown nationality. It was acquired by Xanthus from Samos, who was amazed by Aesop with his witty answers. The ancient Greek philosopher never regretted the purchase, because thanks to the cunning and inventive slave, Xanthus remained in the memory of generations, because the legend associates many jokes and wisdom with him.

Slave Aesop serves his master and his guest

There is a widespread legend about how Xanthus ordered Aesop to purchase “all the best” that is in the world for the upcoming holiday. And the slave brought only tongues in various ways preparations and explained to the surprised owner that the best thing is language, because it establishes laws and contracts and expresses wise thoughts.

Xanthus thought and the next day asked Aesop to buy “the worst of everything.” And the slave brought tongues again, proving that there is nothing worse: people deceive with them, start quarrels and conflicts. Although the owner was angry at the situation, he admitted that Aesop was right.

One day, after a magnificent celebration, Xanth boastfully declared that he could drink the sea. The next morning, Aesop's owner remembered with horror his own promise. But the slave saved him from shame, advising him to set a condition: that his opponent block the rivers flowing into the sea, because Xanthus did not promise to drink them too. So the philosopher got out of a difficult situation and avoided humiliation.

Aesop more than once asked Xanth to give him freedom, but he did not want to let go of the wise slave. Everything changed when a strange event happened - an eagle grabbed state seal and released her into the slave’s bosom, and Aesop was asked to explain the incident.

He responded to the request in a peculiar way: he said that it was not right for a slave to advise free people, but if he had been fired, he could have done it. When the people agreed, Aesop explained that the eagle is the royal bird, which means the king decided to conquer the city.

Upset residents sent the former slave to the king for reconciliation. The ruler liked Aesop, he made him an adviser and made peace with the residents of the city. Legend has it that after this the sage went to the Babylonian and Egyptian kingdoms, met with sages and wrote many interesting fables.

Creation

Aesop became famous not only for his quotes and parables, he is considered the first fabulist, because it was Aesop who became the founder of this genre. A fable is a short poetic story with instructive content. The characters are various animals and plants, in whose actions human vices are visible and ridiculed. This hidden subtext of the work is called Aesopian language.

Books from Ancient Greece, containing short fables whose authorship was attributed to Aesop. Today's readers know these works in adaptations by Gulak-Artemovsky and other fabulists.

It is estimated that the Greek poet used about 80 animals and 30 gods, mythical figures and representatives of various professions in his work.

Illustration for Aesop's fable "The Fox and the Grapes"

Aesop has an interesting fable about a cunning donkey: one day the animal was crossing a river with a load in the form of bags of salt. But the donkey could not stay on the flimsy bridge and fell: the salt dissolved, and walking became easier. The donkey was happy and the next time he fell deliberately, but the load was wool, which swollen from the water, and the donkey drowned. The moral of this fable is that ill-conceived cunning is destructive.

Such folk wisdom, common sense and hopes for justice, expressed in a witty form, made Aesop's work immortal.

Personal life

There are several references that say that Aesop's beloved was from Thrace and was enslaved by Iadmon. According to one version of the legend, Rhodopis and Aesop had a secret love affair.

At an unknown period, the biography of Rhodopis took on the appearance of a fairy tale about. In one of the variations, which Strabo retells, while Rhodopis was bathing, an eagle stole the girl’s sandal. At this time, the king was holding court in the open air, and an eagle, soaring above his head, threw a sandal into his lap. The amazed king ordered his subjects to go in search of the girl who had lost her shoes. And, according to legend, when she was found, Rhodopis became the king’s wife.

Death

Death overtook Aesop in Delphi, the legend of this time is reconstructed according to Herodotus and, combining with later evidence.

It is believed that while in Delphi, Aesop, with his slander, aroused the wrath of several citizens who decided to punish him. To do this, the Delphians stole a golden cup from the temple utensils and put it in Aesop's travel bag while he was not looking. The sage was searched, found missing and, like a blasphemer, stoned to death.

Many years later, the fabulist’s innocence was discovered, and the descendants of his murderers paid the penalty, to receive which the grandson of that Iadmon, who was considered the first master of Aesop, arrived.

Quotes

Gratitude is a sign of nobility of soul.

It is said that Chilo asked Aesop: “What is Zeus doing?” Aesop replied: “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.

The true treasure for people is the ability to work.

Bibliography

"The Wolf and the Lamb"
"The Fox and the Grapes"
"Dragonfly and Ant"
"The Frog and the Ox"
"The Peasant and the Snake"
"The Pig and the Lioness"
"The Fisherman and the Fish"
"The Lion and the Mouse"
"The Raven and the Fox"
"The Beetle and the Ant"

Old Greek Αἴσωπος

legendary ancient Greek poet and fabulist

around 600 BC

Brief 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 “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 the “Biography of Aesop”, written in the vernacular. If the early authors did not say anything about the peculiarities 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, set them out 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 of this tradition was the anonymous late antique novel (on 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 thing from Aristophanes character. 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 holiammb. 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. Phrygian talker, allegorically blaspheming powerful of the world This, 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
City Mouse and Country Mouse
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.

Legendary figure of ancient Greek literature, fabulist who lived in the 6th century BC. e.
It is impossible to say whether Aesop was a historical figure. There was no scientific tradition about the life of Aesop. Herodotus (II, 134) writes 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 writes more than a hundred years later that Aesop came from Thrace, was a contemporary of Pherecydes, and his first owner was called Xanthus, but he extracts this data from the same story of Herodotus through unreliable inferences (for example, Thrace as the homeland 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.

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 ancient 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, the Renaissance first questioned this question (Luther), the philology of the 18th century substantiated this doubt (Richard Bentley), the philology of the 19th century took it to the limit (Otto Crusius and after him Rutherford asserted the mythicality of Aesop with the decisiveness characteristic of for the hypercriticism of their era), the 20th century began to again lean towards the assumption of a historical prototype of the image of Aesop.

Brief biography- AESOP Sayings and aphorisms of Aesop Aesop is a 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. According to legend, born in Phrygia (Asia Minor), Aesop was a slave, and later a freedman, served at the court of the Lydian king and was killed in Delphi. Herodotus first mentions Aesop. 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 BC e. The Delphians killed him, for which the descendants of Iadmon subsequently received a ransom. Herodotus

Later, Asia Minor was called his homeland, which is quite plausible, since the nature of his name is consistent with this. His death at Delphi was adorned with a legend that can be reconstructed from Herodotus and Aristophanes, combining them with later evidence. According to this legend, Aesop, while in Delphi, 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 the 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.

Aesop's fables have been translated (often revised) into many languages of the world, including the famous fable writers Jean Lafontaine and Ivan Krylov. By Jean Lafontaine Ivan Krylov In Russian, a complete translation of all Aesop's fables was published in 1968.1968

Under the name of Aesop, a collection of fables (of 426 short works) in prosaic presentation has been preserved. There is reason to believe that in the era of Aristophanes (end of the 5th century) a written collection of Aesop's fables was known in Athens, 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 includes fables from various eras. Aristophanes' Aesop's collection

Camel Lamb and Wolf Horse and Donkey Partridge and Hens Reed and Olive Tree Eagle and Fox Eagle and Jackdaw Eagle and Turtle Boar and Fox Donkey and Horse Donkey and Fox Donkey and Goat Donkey, Rook and Shepherd Frog, Rat and Crane Fox and Ram Fox and Donkey Fox and Woodcutter Fox and Stork

One poor man fell ill and felt completely ill; the doctors abandoned him; and then he prayed to the gods, promising to bring them a hecatomb and donate rich gifts if he recovered. His wife, being nearby, asked: “What kind of money will you do this with?” “Do you really think,” he answered, “that I will begin to recover only so that the gods will demand it of me?” The fable shows that people easily promise in words what they do not think of fulfilling in practice.

Zeus celebrated the wedding and set out food for all the animals. Only the turtle did not come. Not understanding what was the matter, the next day Zeus asked her why she did not come to the feast alone. "Your home - best house", answered the turtle. Zeus got angry with her and forced her to carry her everywhere. own house. So many people find it more pleasant to live modestly at home than to live richly with strangers.

His story ends with his unjust execution on false charges of theft from the Delphic temple. In the biography of Aesop, preceded by a set of fables attributed to him, which were collected by the monk Maximus Planud (14th century), there are many other anecdotes, most of them unreliable.

Biography

Aesop (ancient Greek) is a semi-legendary figure of ancient Greek literature, a fabulist who lived in the 6th century BC. e.

Biography

It is impossible to say whether Aesop was a historical figure. There was no scientific tradition about the life of Aesop. Herodotus (II, 134) writes that Aesop was a slave of a certain Iadmon from the island of Samos, lived during the time of the Egyptian king Amasis (570-526 BC) and was killed by the Delphians. Heraclides of Pontus writes more than a hundred years later that Aesop came from Thrace, was a contemporary of Pherecydes, and his first master was called Xanthus, but he extracts this data from the same story of Herodotus through unreliable inferences. 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. 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.

Antiquity did not doubt the historicity of Aesop, the Renaissance first questioned this question (Luther), philology of the 18th century. substantiated this doubt (Richard Bentley), 19th century philology. brought 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), the 20th century began to once again lean towards the assumption of a historical prototype for the image of Aesop.

Heritage

Aesop's name later became a symbol. His works were passed on from mouth to mouth, and in the 3rd century BC. e. 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 era of Emperor Augustus, Phaedrus arranged these fables in Latin iambic verse; Avian, around the 4th century, arranged 42 fables in Latin elegiac distich. About 200 n. e. Babriy set them out in Greek verses in the meter of a holyamb. The works of Babrius were included by Planud (1260-1310) in his famous collection, which influenced later fabulists. "Aesop's Fables", all composed 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. 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. In the Middle Ages, an anecdotal biography of Aesop was composed in Byzantium, which was long taken 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. Its source is the Jewish story about the wise Akyria, which belongs to the cycle of legends that surrounded the personality of King Solomon among later Jews. The story itself is known mainly from ancient Slavic adaptations. 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 fable writers Jean La Fontaine and Ivan Krylov.

In Russian, a complete translation of all Aesop's fables was published in 1968.

Some fables

* Camel

* Lamb and Wolf

* Horse and Donkey

* Partridge and Hens

* Reed and Olive tree

* Eagle and Fox

* Eagle and Jackdaw

* Eagle and Turtle

* Boar and Fox

*Donkey and Horse

*Donkey and Fox

*Donkey and Goat

* Donkey, Rook and Shepherd

* Frog, Rat and Crane

* Fox and Ram

* Fox and Donkey

* Fox and Woodcutter

* Fox and Stork

* Fox and Dove

* Rooster and Diamond

* Rooster and Servant

* Deer and Lion

* Shepherd and Wolf

* Dog and Ram

* Dog and piece of meat

* Dog and Wolf

* Lion with other animals on the hunt

* Lion and mouse

* Lion and Bear

* Lion and Donkey

* Lion and Mosquito

* Lion and Goat

* Lion, Wolf and Fox

* Lion, Fox and Donkey

* Man and Partridge

* Peacock and Jackdaw

* Wolf and Crane

* Wolf and Shepherds

* Old Lion and Fox

* Wild Dog

* Jackdaw and Dove

* Bat

* Frogs and Snake

*Hare and Frogs

* Hen and Swallow

* Crows and other birds

* Crows and Birds

* Lioness and Fox

* Mouse and Frog

* Tortoise and Hare

* Snake and Peasant

* Swallow and other birds

* Mouse from the city and Mouse from the country

* Ox and Lion

* Dove and Crows

* Goat and Shepherd

* Both frogs

*Both chickens

* White Jackdaw

* Wild Goat and grape branch

* Three bulls and a lion

* Chicken and Egg

* Jupiter and Bees

* Jupiter and Snake

* Rook and Fox

* Zeus and Camel

* Two frogs

* Two friends and a bear

* Two cancers

Aesop is one of the most controversial figures in ancient literature. The lack of scientific evidence about the life of the fabulist casts doubt on his existence. Many ancient Greek historians, such as Herodotus, Heraclides of Pontus, had their own information about how he lived and under what circumstances he died. These data were characterized by such motifs that at the end of the 4th century. BC e. became the basis of the Aesopian legend.

All of the above proves that ancient historians and writers never doubted the existence of this fabulist. But the Renaissance, as well as philology different centuries disputed this case, arguing that Aesop is a myth. The twentieth century allows the existence of this writer.

At the end of the 5th century, a collection of centuries-old fables by Aesop was glorified in Athens.

Aesop's fables passed from generation to generation because his name became iconic. Demetrius Falevsky collected all the works in 10 books in the 3rd century BC. e., but this collection was lost. Connoisseurs of his art were also interested in details personal life fabulist. The unknown fragments of his life were filled with legends. It was assumed that Aesop had a nasty character, and his appearance was compared to a hunchbacked, limping freak. This image has come to us in the form of sculptures.

There was a version of the poet’s biography, the source of which was one of the legends about King Solomon. The version tells us that Aesop was a cheap slave, who was mocked by all and sundry, and against whom he skillfully took revenge.

In many countries, connoisseurs of ancient Greek literature can read fables in the interpretation of such fabulists as I. Krylov and Jean La Fontaine.

In 1986, a Russian-language version of Aesop's fables was published.