The Truth Behind Aesop’s Fables – Part 3/4 (ca. 620-560 BC)
It was during the reign of Peisistratus that Aesop visited Athens, where he told a fable called The Frogs Who Desired a King, in an attempt to dissuade the Athenian citizens from deposing Peisistratus in favor of another ruler. Although his words were successfully received here, further travels across the Greek world would prove his downfall.
It was upon a visit to Dephi that Aesop met a violent end at the hands of the inhabitants there. The cause of this remains unknown, as Herodotus does not explain why Aesop was killed – of course, various theories have emerged on their own, such as the suggestion that Aesop directed highly insulting sarcasm toward certain well-known people, or that he embezzled money that was trusted to him by Croesus, or that perhaps he stole and defiled a sacred silver cup.
After Aesop’s execution, Delphi was apparently fraught with a pestilence, which caused the inhabitants to agree to make compensation for their actions – essentially, realizing they had killed the wrong man. For lack of a closer connection with anyone else, the compensation was claimed by the young Idamon, grandson of Aesop’s former master.
After his death, it was said that the Athenians erected a statue in Aesop’s honor, created by the extremely famous sculptor Lysippos. In fact, the knowledge that this statue was placed in a public area in Athens decries the false but traditional assertion that Aesop was ‘ugly and deformed’, a rumor circulated in the 14th century by a German monk and scholar. Since none of the other Greek writers ever made their own comments on Aesop’s appearance – only referring instead to his previous servile status – there is no reason to believe that there was anything abnormal about his outward appearance.
Instead, it seems that Aesop met his end as a result of a misunderstanding – however, because of the Greek world’s appreciation for his tales and contribution to their storytelling repertoire, his work has continued to be read and loved by many people for thousands of years after his death.
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Tomorrow: How many of these ancient fables do you remember?
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