Who Wrote Aesop's Fables?

Everyone is familiar with Aesop's Fables. These are usually short stories about characters from animals to make a point about human behavior. Aesop has been credited with the invention of the fable. Indeed, the name Aesop has become synonymous with fables. However, animal fables existed long before Aesop. There are fables recorded in ancient artefacts of Babylon, Harappa (the ancient Indian civilization), China and Persia.


Fables are form the second oldest in history. Fables were often used by speakers or priests trying to get your message. At the time when people lived very close to nature, largely illiterate, the best way to communicate an important message for them was to tell a story about animal behavior and relate it to human behavior.

In ancient times, all the stories were passed from mouth to mouth, with nothing written. As such, it is impossible to know exactly whether Aesop thought of the fables himself, or was against a wandering stories that gathered fables. Unfortunately, Herodotus seemed that everyone knew Aesop and his fables, so he did not give details of Aesop or his work.

Whether or not Aesop was the creative genius behind all the fables, they are still Aesop's Fables.