The Complete Fables By Aesop (Paperback, 1998)

Product Description

A slave who represented his masters in court & negotiations Aesop relied on allegorical animal stories collected here in The Complete Fables to convey his key points This Penguin Classics edition is translated from the Greek by Olivia & Robert Temple with an introduction by Robert Temple In a series of pithy amusing vignettes Aesop created a vivid cast of characters to demonstrate different aspects of human nature Here we see a wily fox outwitted by a quick-thinking cicada a tortoise triumphing over a self-confident hare & a fable-teller named Aesop silencing those who mock him Each jewel-like fable provides a warning about the consequences of wrongdoing as well as offering a glimpse into the everyday lives of Ancient Greeks All Aesop's fables full of humour insight & savage wit as well as many fascinating glimpses of ordinary life have now been brought together for the first time in this definitive & fully annotated modern edition Little is known for certain about the life of Aesop (c 620-564 BC) though details of his life are scattered throughout the works of ancient Greek writers including Aristophanes Xenophon Aristotle & Herodotus who give grounds for thinking that he was a slave & Plutarch who identifies him as an entertaining storyteller executed by the Delphians by being thrown off a cliff If you enjoyed The Complete Fables you might like Ovid's Metamorphoses also available in Penguin Classics' Ground-breaking this version of the fables is a revelation the translation is excellent' Peter Jones Sunday Telegraph' Aesop remains a fundamental figure in Western literature' Frederic Raphael Sunday Times