Aesop

Aesop Αἴσωπος (Aisōpos)
Hellenistic statue thought to depict Aesop, Art Collection of Villa Albani, Rome
Born	c. 620 BC
Died	564 BC (aged c. 56) Delphi, Greece
Nationality	Greek
Genre	Fable
Notable works	Number of fables now collectively known as Aesop's Fables

Aesop or Æsop (Ancient Greek: Αἴσωπος, romanized: Aisōpos) is known for his fables. He was, by tradition, a slave of African descent who lived from about 620 BC to 560 BC in Ancient Greece.

Aesop's Fables are still taught as moral lessons and used as subjects for entertainment, especially children's plays and cartoons. Aesop is said to have written thousands of fables, but none has been verified. This means we do not know whether he wrote any, or perhaps just collected them. His most famous one was perhaps The Lion and the Mouse.

No writings by him survive. Tales credited to him were gathered across the centuries and in many languages. This is a storytelling tradition that continues to the present day. Many of the tales have animals and inanimate objects that speak, solve problems, and generally have human characteristics.

The tradition is that he was at one point freed from slavery and that he eventually died at the hands of Delphians. In fact, the doubt about his life has led some to deny his existence altogether.

His most famous fable is a parable of the tortoise and the hare. In this story, a rabbit challenges a tortoise to a race. The rabbit is sure of its victory and as a result, depending on the version of the story, in some way completes the race slower than the turtle. Often, the hare takes a nap or takes too many breaks. The persistent tortoise, despite being slower, wins because it persevered.

The Qur'anic figure Luqman (Arabic: لقمان) is often identified with Aesop, whose lore is found in several ancient cultures.^[1][2][3] At some time during the Middle Ages, much was transferred to Luqman that was told in Europe of Aesop.^[4] This identification with Aesop is confirmed by the fact that many of the fables ascribed to Aesop in the west are referred to Luqman in the east.^[5]

1. ↑ https://books.google.com/books?id=pMuxLlWih04C&dq=luqman+generally+identified+with+aesop&pg=PA70
2. ↑ https://books.google.com/books?id=W3rjDAAAQBAJ&dq=luqman+aesop&pg=PT202
3. ↑ https://books.google.com/books?id=NoqDBwAAQBAJ&dq=luqman+reference+to+aesop&pg=PA368
4. ↑ https://books.google.com/books?id=jJY3AAAAIAAJ&dq=luqman+traditionally+aesop&pg=PA812
5. ↑ https://books.google.com/books?id=Oc88AAAAIAAJ&dq=luqman+similar+to+aesop&pg=PR76