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Aesop

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From: Encyclopedia of World Biography
Date: 20050101
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Aesop

Little is known about the ancient Greek writer Aesop (c. 620 B.C.E. – c. 560 B.C.E.), whose stories of clever animals and foolish humans are considered Western civilization's first morality tales. He was said to have been a slave who earned his freedom through his storytelling and went on to serve as advisor to a king. Both his name and the animist tone of his tales have led some scholars to believe he may have been Ethiopian in origin.

Freed from Slavery

Aesop never wrote down any of the tales himself; he merely recited them orally. The first recorded mention of his ...

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