The ancient philosopher and fabulist Aesop, whose biography is set out in the writings of Herodotus, is still a little-known figure. Whether such a person existed, no one can say with certainty.
Was there a slave who could write?
The writings of Herodotus indicate that the ancient fabulist lived in the 6th century BC and was a slave of a certain Iadmon, who lived on the island of Samos during the time of the Egyptian king Amasis. The first master of the ancient philosopher was Xanthos, but these dubious facts are also extracted from the works of Herodotus. According to some sources, in the era of Aristophanes, Aesop's fables were taught in schools, this is confirmed by a quote from the character from the production: “You are ignorant and lazy! I didn’t even learn Aesop!” Historians study with interest the personality traits of Aesop, because the poor slaves at that time did not know how to write, they were not allowed to express their opinion about anything at all. There is reason to believe that the collection of Aesop's fables includes the works of many generations and different eras.
Ancient retellers
The first retellers of Aesop's fables were Demetrius of Phaler - 3rd century BC, Avian - 4th century BC. Around 200 BC, Babrius recounted Aesop's fables in Greek verse.
In the books, the slave was represented as lame and hunchbacked, with the terrible and ugly face of a monkey. The statue of a slave that has survived to this day visually indicates how ugly Aesop was. The biography of the sage for many years raised many questions among lovers of antiquity. During the Renaissance, the question of the existence of a slave named Aesop was first questioned. The biography of the fabulist from that moment became semi-mythical. Only in the 20th century did scholars begin to lean towards the general opinion that Aesop's personality had its own historical prototype. But unlike the Middle Ages and modern times, the ancient ancestors did not doubt that once there really was a talented slave.
Fictitious joke
In Byzantium in the Middle Ages, the fictional anecdotal story of Aesop became the basis of the fabulist's biography.
It said that a slave was constantly being passed from hand to hand for pennies. Due to the constant bullying of his comrades, overseers and masters, Aesop became touchy and vindictive. But these facts were not only fiction, they did not even correspond to the Greek version of Aesop's biography.
Aesop's Wisdom
We can judge her by the wise and instructive fables staged by the world's leading theaters. Aesop's collection of fables contains 426 short instructive stories in which the main role is assigned to the relationship of animals. Everyone, reading the fable, understands thatstories about animals are directly related to human characters and mores.
Instructive legacy
It is important for us that Aesop, whose biography is not known to almost anyone, left wonderful collections of fables as a legacy. Even if we assume that the wise old man did not write his stories alone, but that the creation was the fruit of the creativity of various people from different generations, it is difficult to overestimate the works of antiquity. In Soviet times, a television production of "Aesop" was staged. The biography of the slave runs like a red line throughout the plot of the teleplay, it reflects the wisdom of the poor slave, pronouncing the phrase "Drink the sea, Xanth!" If you don't know what it's about - read the book about the wise servant, it's very interesting! Aesop's collection of fables was translated into Russian in 1968. It includes wonderful and instructive stories "The Eagle and the Fox", "The Partridge and the Hen", "The Lamb and the Wolf", etc.
