The ancient philosopher and fabulist Aesop, whose biography is set forth 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 to a certain Jadmon who lived on the island of Samos during the time of the Egyptian king Amasis. Xanthus was the first master of the ancient philosopher, 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, a quote from an actor from the production confirms this: “You are an ignoramus and a lazy dog! I haven’t even learned Aesop! ” Historians are interested in studying the characteristics of Aesop's personality, because the poor slaves at that time were not able to write, they were not allowed to express their opinions at all about anything. There is reason to believe that the collection of fables of Aesop includes the works of many generations and different eras.
Ancient storytellers
The first storytellers of Aesop's fables were Demetrius of Faler - 3rd century BC, Avian - 4th century BC Around about 200 BC, Babry set forth Aesop's fables in Greek verses.
In the books, the slave was presented as lame and hunchbacked, with the terrible and ugly face of a monkey. The surviving statue of a slave visually indicates how ugly Aesop was. The biography of the sage for many years raised many questions among lovers of antiquity. In 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, scientists began to lean towards the general opinion that Aesop's personality had its own historical prototype. But unlike the
Middle Ages and modernity, ancient ancestors did not doubt that once a talented slave really existed.
Fictional joke
In Byzantium in the Middle Ages, the fictional anecdotal story of Aesop became the basis of the biography of the fabulist.
It said that the slave was constantly passed from hand to hand for pennies. Due to the constant bullying of his comrades, overseers and owners, Aesop became touchy and vengeful. 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 it by the wise and instructive fables, staged by leading world theaters. Aesop's collection of fables has 426 short instructive stories in which the main role is given to animal relations. Everyone reading a fable understands that animal stories are directly related to human characters and morals.
Instructive heritage
It is important for us that Aesop, whose biography is not known to almost anyone, left a legacy of beautiful collections of fables. Even if we assume that the wise old man did not single-handedly write his stories, and the creation became 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 slave’s biography runs the red line throughout the entire plot of the television show, it reflects the wisdom of the poor slave, pronouncing the phrase “Drink the sea, Xanthos!” Do not know what it is about - read a book about a wise slave, it is very interesting! A collection of Aesop's fables was translated into Russian in 1968. It includes wonderful and instructive stories "The Eagle and the Fox", "Partridge and the Chicken", "The Lamb and the Wolf", etc.