See what "Aesop" is in other dictionaries. short biography

Biography

Whether Aesop was a historical person is impossible to say. There was no scientific tradition about Aesop's life. Herodotus (II, 134) writes that Aesop was a slave of a certain Iadmon from the island of Samos, then he 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, Heraclid of Pontus writes that Aesop came from Thrace, was a contemporary of Pherekides, and his first owner was called Xanth, but he extracts this data from the same story of Herodotus by unreliable conclusions (for example, Thrace, as the birthplace of Aesop, is inspired by the fact that Herodotus mentions Aesop in connection with the Thracian Hetera Rhodopis, who was also in slavery to Iadmon). Aristophanes ("Wasps", 1446-1448) already gives details about the death of Aesop - a wandering motif of a thrown cup, which served as a pretext for his accusation, and a fable about an eagle and a beetle, told by him before his death. A century later, this statement of the heroes of Aristophanes is repeated already as historical fact. The comedian Plato (late 5th century) already mentions the posthumous reincarnations of Aesop's soul. The comedian Alexis (end of the 4th century), who wrote the comedy Aesop, confronts his hero with Solon, that is, he already weaves the legend of Aesop into the cycle of legends about the seven wise men and King Croesus. His contemporary Lysippus also knew this version, depicting Aesop at the head of the seven wise men. Slavery at Xanthus, connection with the seven wise men, death from the treachery of the Delphic priests - all these motifs became the links of the subsequent Aesopian legend, the core of which had already taken shape by the end of the 4th century. BC e. The most important monument of this tradition was the "Biography of Aesop" compiled in the folk language, which has come down in several editions. In this version important role plays the ugliness of Aesop (not mentioned by ancient authors), his homeland instead of Thrace becomes Phrygia (a stereotypical place associated with slaves), Aesop acts as a sage and a joker, fooling kings and his master - a stupid philosopher. In this plot, surprisingly, Aesop's own fables play almost no role; the anecdotes and jokes told by Aesop in the "Biography" are not included in the collection of "Aesopian fables" that has come down to us from antiquity and are rather far from it in terms of genre. The image of the ugly, wise and cunning "Phrygian slave" in ready-made belongs to the new European tradition.

Antiquity did not doubt the historicity of Aesop, the Renaissance for the first time called this question into question (Luther), philology of the 18th century. substantiated this doubt (Richard Bentley), philology of the XIX century. brought it to the limit (Otto Crusius and after him Rutherford asserted the mythical nature of Aesop with the decisiveness characteristic of the hypercriticism of their era), the 20th century began again to lean towards the assumption of the historical prototype of the image of Aesop.

Heritage

Under the name of Aesop, a collection of fables has been preserved (from 426 short works) in prose. There is reason to believe that in the era of Aristophanes (the end of the 5th century), a written collection of Aesopian fables was known in Athens, according to which children were taught at school; “You are an ignorant and lazy person, you haven’t even learned Aesop,” says one character in Aristophanes. These were prosaic retellings, without any artistic finishing. In fact, the so-called Aesop collection includes fables from various eras.

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 Baran
• Fox and Donkey
• Fox and Woodcutter
• Fox and stork
• Fox and Dove
• Rooster and Diamond
• Rooster and servant
• Deer
• 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
• Turtle and Hare
• The snake and the peasant
• Swallow and other birds
• Mouse from the city and Mouse from the countryside
• Bull 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

Who reports (II, 134) that Aesop was a slave of a certain Iadmon from the island of Samos, then he 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.

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

Some fables

• Beetle and Ant

Quotes

• Gratitude is a sign of nobility of the soul.
• Chilo is said to have asked Aesop, "What is Zeus doing?" Aesop replied, "Makes the high low and the low high."
• If a person undertakes two things that are directly opposite to each other, one of them will certainly fail him.
• Each person has his own work, and each work has its own time.
• The true treasure for people is the ability to work.

Literature

Texts

Translations

• In the series: "Collection Budé": Esope. fables. Texte établi et traduit par E. Chambry. 5th edition 2002. LIV, 324 p.

Russian translations:

• Aesop's fables with moralizing and notes by Roger Letrange, re-published and translated into Russian in St. Petersburg, the office of the Academy of Sciences by Secretary Sergei Volchkov. SPb., 1747. 515 pages (reissues)
• Aesop's fables with the fables of the Latin poet Filelf, from the latest French translation, full description life of Ezopova ... supplied by the city of Bellegard, now again translated into Russian by D. T. M., 1792. 558 pages.
• Fables of Aesopov. / Per. and note. I. Martynova. SPb., . 297 pages
• Complete collection of Aesop's fables ... M., . 132 pages
• Aesop's fables. / Per. M. L. Gasparova. (Series "Literary monuments"). Moscow: Nauka, . 320 pp. 30,000 copies.
  • reprint in the same series: M., 1993.
  • reprint: Antique fable. M.: Artist. lit. 1991. S. 23-268.
  • reissue: Aesop. Commandments. Fables. Biography / trans. Gasparova M. L. - Rostov-on-Don: Phoenix, 2003. - 288 p. - ISBN 5-222-03491-7

see also

• Babriy - the author of poetic expositions of Aesop's fables

Links

• Aesop on "Wikilivra"

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010 .

• 5th millennium BC e.
• 8 millennium BC e.

See what "Aesop" is in other dictionaries:

Aesop- (Aesopus, Αί̉σωπος). The author of the famous "Aesop's fables", lived about 570 BC. and was a contemporary of Solon. He was by. the origin of the slave; having received freedom, Aesop went to Croesus, who sent him to Delphi. At Delphi he was accused of sacrilege... Encyclopedia of mythology

Aesop- (Esop) (VI century BC) legendary fabulist, Phrygian by origin When you are at the royal court, then everything that you hear, let it die in you, so that you yourself do not have to die untimely. Be good with your wife, so that she does not want ... ... Consolidated encyclopedia of aphorisms

Aesop is considered the first fabulist. He is the pioneer of the genre of fables, although his original works have not survived to this day.

There is no exact reliable information about whether Aesop lived. Some suggest that the poet actually existed, others that his works belong to several people. It is believed that the date of birth of the fabulist is the sixth century BC. His homeland is Ancient Greece, the island of Samos. All information says that from birth and, possibly, all his life, Aesop was a slave.

Herodotus was the first to speak about the poet. His words are considered to be the most reliable. According to him, Aesop was in slavery to Iadmon, and lived in Samos. Also, according to the historian, at the same time Amasis reigned in Egypt, that is, in 570-530 BC. At some point in his life, Aesop was released into the wild. Having lived for about 55 years, the priests killed the poet in Delphi, because of his disrespect for the ancient Greek gods.

Heraclid wrote that the birthplace of the fabulist was Thrace, and Xanthus was his master. It is assumed that the philosopher took this information from his fables. Also, people such as Plato, Aristophanes, Lysippus and Alexis undertook to describe the biography of Aesop.

There is a work known as the "Biography" which tells another version of the poet's story. The book dates back to the second century BC, its author is unknown. According to the "Biography", Aesop was born in Phrygia, and was a slave of the philosopher. The book describes the appearance of the fabulist for the first time: ugliness, hunchback and short stature.

No one doubted the existence of Aesop until the 16th century. Then Martin Luther questioned these stories about the poet. He considered Aesop collectively several writers of fables. Over the years, this assumption found more and more justification, and already in the last century, most philologists denied the existence of a fabulist.

Aesop's Fables were the first works in this genre. Also, the fabulist became the first in his manner of writing: he gave out the characters of people under the species of animals. The fables were entertaining funny stories with a final morality worth pondering over. They ridiculed the negative traits of people: pride, greed, laziness, deceit, lies.

Aesop's fables were very popular with the people Ancient Greece. These stories have always gained a lot of listeners. According to some reports, Aesop was invited by the kings to tell them his fables. Presumably, these stories were taught to children in schools.

Aesop is believed to have written between 400 and 500 fables, possibly in verse. The originals of the works of the ancient Greek poet themselves have not reached the present. fables for a long time passed from mouth to mouth, and then were rewritten by some authors. One of them, and most likely the first, was Demetrius of Phaler, although his collections were also lost. The fables of the famous Russian writer Krylov are translated and rewritten works of Aesop. On the French fables are known under the authorship of Jean La Fontaine.

Option number 2

In most countries of the world, in different schools children study a lot of literary works. Among them there are poems, novels, short stories, short stories and so on. Literature is divided into two types, classical and popular. In schools, children study the classical literature of writers from their native country, as well as the works of the most outstanding foreign masters of the pen.

Each literary work aims to draw people's attention to the problems that surround us. An attentive reader will notice morality and teaching in any book, and draw their own conclusions. Indeed, very often writers do not say directly and openly what exactly they want to convey to readers in their works. But back in the 6th century BC, in ancient Greece, there lived one person who, one might say, discovered a new trend in literature - fables. And his name is as well known as his work. Aesop is considered the founder of the fable. But to our great regret, his works in the original have not been preserved to our time, but only his stories rewritten by other writers. The fables depict the most important problems in human relations and the character of each. Most often people in fables personify images of animals. It is not known for certain who exactly introduced this rule, or Aesop himself, or his followers.

Aesop had a hard and full of troubles life. He was the son of a slave and was himself a slave. But at the same time, he did not lose heart, and always enjoyed life, which made the people around him very angry. All his life, Aesop was considered ugly and stupid. The people with whom he lived did not have a feeling of compassion and pity, but only a desire for profit. And he ridiculed their ways of life, their values ​​in his fables, for which he soon paid with his life.

He was falsely accused of a crime he did not commit. And they were stoned to death, but thanks to his works, the memory of him is still alive and will live on, passed down from generation to generation. And we must remember what a sacrifice Aesop made in order to show the rest of their weaknesses and ignorance.

For grades 3, 4, 5, in literature

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short biography- Aesop Sayings and aphorisms of Aesop Aesop is a semi-mythical ancient Greek fabulist who lived in the VI century BC. e. He is considered the founder of the fable genre; the allegorical manner of expressing thoughts, which is used to this day, is named after him - the Aesopian language.

Today it is not known for certain whether such an author of fables actually existed or whether they belonged to different persons, and the image of Aesop is collective. Information about his biography is often contradictory and not historically confirmed. According to legend, he was 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 mentions Aesop for the first time. According to him, 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 ruled, i.e. in the years BC e. He was killed by the Delphians, 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 traced back to Herodotus and Aristophanes by combining them with later evidence. According to this legend, Aesop, while in Delphi, aroused several citizens against himself with his slander, and they decided to punish him.

To do this, they, having stolen 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 at Aesop's, and he, like a blasphemer, was stoned to death. A miraculous discovery of Aesop's innocence followed many years later; the descendants of his murderers were compelled to pay the vira, for which the grandson of that Iadmon, who was his lord, appeared.

Aesop's fables have been translated (often revised) into many languages ​​​​of the world, including the famous fablers Jean La Fontaine and Ivan Krylov. Jean La Fontaine Ivan Krylov In Russian, a complete translation of all Aesop's fables was published in 1968.

Under the name of Aesop, a collection of fables (of 426 short works) has been preserved in prose. There is reason to believe that in the era of Aristophanes (the end of the 5th century), a written collection of Aesopian fables was known in Athens, according to which children were taught at school; “You are an ignorant and lazy person, you haven’t even learned Aesop,” says one character in Aristophanes. These were prosaic retellings, without any artistic finishing. In fact, the so-called Aesop collection includes fables from various eras. Aristophanes Aesop collection

Camel Lamb and Wolf Horse and Donkey Partridge and Chicken 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 quite ill; the doctors abandoned him; and then he prayed to the gods, promising to bring them a hecatomb and donate rich gifts if he recovers. His wife, finding herself nearby, asked: “But with what money will you do this?” “Do you really think,” he replied, “that I will get well only so that the gods demand it from me?” The fable shows that people easily promise in words what they do not think to fulfill in deeds.

Zeus celebrated the wedding and put out a treat for all the animals. Only one 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. "My house - best house' replied the tortoise. Zeus got angry with her and forced her to wear everywhere own house. So it is more pleasant for many people to live modestly at home than richly with strangers.

His story ends with an unjust execution on false charges of theft from the Delphic temple. In the biography of Aesop, prefaced by the 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.

Aesop(Áisopos) - the legendary ancient Greek fabulist (6th century BC), who was considered the creator (canonizer) of the fable. Legends depict Aesop as a holy fool, a folk sage (in the guise of a lame slave), innocently thrown off a cliff. He was credited with the plots of almost all the fables known in antiquity (“Aesop's fables”), processed by many fabulists - from Phaedrus and Babrius to Jean de La Fontaine and the Russian writer Ivan Andreevich Krylov. Under the name of Aesop, a collection of fables of 97 short works in prose has been preserved. According to the data for 2013, not all of them were translated into Russian.

Aesop is the ancestor of the "Aesopian" fable named after him. According to ancient tradition, he lived around the middle of the 6th century BC, was a slave of the Samian Iadmon, and died a violent death at Delphi. 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, combined with later evidence.

According to this legend, Aesop, while in Delphi, aroused several citizens against himself with his slander, and they decided to punish him. To do this, they, having stolen a golden bowl from temple utensils, secretly put it in his knapsack and then sounded the alarm. After that, it was ordered to search the pilgrims, the cup was found at Aesop, and he, like a sacrilegious, was stoned to death. Many years later followed the miraculous discovery of the innocence of the fabulist; the descendants of his murderers were compelled to pay the vira, for which the grandson of that Iadmon, who was his lord, appeared.

The historical core of this legend lies in the relation of Delphi, that center of the poetry of the sixth century, to the Aesopian fable: being at first hostile, it eventually became friendly, that is, Delphi considered it best to take under its protection this popular and influential type of narrative poetry. As for the Aesopian fable itself, by this name the ancients understood the one in which the characters were animals and other dumb creatures and objects. Another variety was the so-called Sybarite fable, in which people performed; in addition, there were also Libyan, Egyptian, Cypriot, Carian and Cilician fables.

All named localities lay on the outskirts (western, southern, eastern) of the Greek world; this stands in connection with the often noticed fact that the works of folk literature were better preserved and earlier attracted attention precisely in the outskirts, where antagonism with other nationalities made the treasury of national traditions more valuable. Accordingly, we should also see in the Phrygian Aesop simply a collector and reteller of Greek fables; his popularity was the reason why every fable of an "esopic" nature was attributed to him. There is reason to believe that in the era of Aristophanes (end of the 5th century), a written collection of Aesopian fables was known in Athens, according to which children were taught at school; “You are an ignorant and lazy person, you haven’t even learned Aesop!” says one character in Aristophanes. These were prosaic retellings, without any artistic finishing.

The recognition of Aesop by Delphi was for the poets an indirect call to bring this abandoned type of folk literature into poetic literature; the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates from Athens responded to him, under the influence of that mystical mood in which he, as the chosen one of the Delphic Apollo, spent last days own life. The modifications of Socrates have not been preserved for posterity; and imaginary fragments of them are spurious.

The set of Aesop's fables in prose was compiled at the end of the 4th century by Demetrius of Faler. Only free poetic alterations of Babrius (3rd century after the birth of Christ) in Greek, Phaedra (1st century after the birth of Christ) and Avien (4th century after the birth of Christ) - in Greek have come down to us from antiquity. Latin; the same dry prose retellings that are titled in the manuscripts as "Aesop's Fables" are all composed in the Middle Ages.

Interest in Aesop's fables was transferred to his personality; in the absence of reliable information about him, they resorted to a legend. The Phrygian rhetorician, allegorically reviling the powers that be, naturally seemed to be a quarrelsome and vicious person, like Homer's Thersites, and therefore the portrait of Thersites, depicted in detail by the ancient Greek poet Homer, was also transferred to Aesop. He was represented as hunchbacked, lame, with the face of a monkey - in a word, ugly in every respect and directly opposite to the divine beauty of Apollo; this is how he was depicted in sculpture - in that interesting statue that has survived to us.

In the Middle Ages, an anecdotal Aesopian biography was composed in Byzantium, which for a long time was taken as a source of reliable information about him. Here the fabulist was represented as a slave, sold from hand to hand for a pittance, constantly offended by fellow slaves, overseers, and masters, but able to successfully take revenge on his offenders. This biography not only did not follow from the true tradition of Aesop - it did not even Greek origin. Its source is the Jewish story about the wise Akiria, belonging to the cycle of legends that surrounded the personality of King Solomon among later Jews.

Intermediate links between this story and the Byzantine biography of Aesop have not yet been discovered; the story itself is known mainly from ancient Slavic alterations. Aesop's biography gained wide popularity and was early translated into many languages: Bulgarian, Turkish and Romanian.

The history of the Aesopian fable is one of the most sensitive gaps in the history of ancient literature; it must be preceded by a collection of all the vaults and passages of Aesop's fable, and this is a very difficult task, which is unlikely to find an executor soon.

Aesop - hunchbacked sage

Aesop is considered the creator of the fable. The literary tradition dates his life to the 6th century. According to legend, he was a slave from Phrygia (in Asia Minor), was subsequently set free and lived for some time at the court of the Lydian king Croesus. It is believed that he eventually ended up in Delphi, where, accused of sacrilege by the priestly aristocracy, he was thrown off a cliff.

preserved big compilation Aesop's fables, but it was composed in the Middle Ages, so it is difficult to determine the true legacy of Aesop. Aesop's fables are based on a folk fable that has a long history. His fables are often live everyday scenes taken from the very thick of folk life; they are a vivid example of early fiction. Subsequently, the Aesopian legacy was subjected to distortions, alterations and caused imitation, starting with the retelling in verse by the Roman fabulist Phaedrus (1st century AD) and the Greek fabulist Babrius (3rd century AD) up to the poetic alterations of La Fontaine, Dmitriev, Izmailov and others The translations of fables from Greek and Latin were made by Mikhail Leonovich Gasparov (Mikhail Leonidovich - Russian literary critic and classical philologist, historian of ancient literature and Russian poetry, translator (from ancient and new languages), versifier, literary theorist. Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Author of fundamental works about Russian and European verse, translator of ancient, medieval and modern poetry and prose, essayist).

Martin Luther believed that the book of Aesop's 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 story".

Aesop's fables have been translated (and often revised) into many languages ​​of the world, including by famous fablers Jean La Fontaine and Ivan Krylov.

Aesop's fables

Literature about Aesop

• Keller, "Geschichte der griechischen Fabel" (1852);
• The best edition of fables is Halm (Lpc., in Teubner);
• Biographies - Eberhard - "Fabulae Romanenses" (ibid.).
• About Akiria Art. Yagich in "Byzantinische Zeitschrift" (1892);
• Loparev, "The Word about St. Theostirikte” (“Memorial of ancient writing” No. 94);
• Article "Aesop" from " encyclopedic dictionary Brockhaus and Efron" (1890-1907);
• Aesop's fables with moralizing and notes by Roger Letrange, re-published and translated into Russian in St. Petersburg, the office of the Academy of Sciences by Secretary Sergei Volchkov. St. Petersburg, 1747. 515 pages (reissues);
• Ezop's fables with the fables of the Latin poet Philelph, from the latest French translation, a complete description of Ezopova's life ... supplied by Mr. Bellegard, now again translated into Russian by D. T. M., 1792. 558 pages;
• Complete collection of Aesop's fables ... M., 1871. 132 pages;
• Aesop's fables. / Translated by M. L. Gasparov. (Series "Literary monuments"). Moscow: Nauka, 1968. 320 pages, 30,000 copies;
• Ancient fable. M.: Fiction 1991. S. 23-268;
• Aesop's Commandments. Fables. Biography / translation of Gasparov M. L. - Rostov-on-Don: Phoenix, 2003. - 288 p. - ISBN 5-222-03491-7;
• Gasparov M. L., Antique literary fables, M., 1971;
• Aesopica, ed. B, E. Perry, v. 1, Urbana, 1952; in Russian translation - Aesop's Fables, M., 1968;
• Nøjgaard M., La fable antique, t. 1, Kbh., 1964.