WHO WAS AESOP?

Little is known about the ancient writer AESOP (620-560BC), whose stories of clever animals and foolish humans are considered Wester 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 to believe that he may have been Ethiopian in origin, given the fact that his name "Aesop" is a variant of "Act-Hiop," which is a reference to Ethiopia in ancient Greek.
According to myth, Aesop won such fame throughout Greece for his tales that he became the target of resentment. He was accused of stealing a gold cup from Delphi Temple to the god Apollo and was tossed from the cliffs at Delphi as punishment for the theft. His defense, it is said, was the Tale "the Eagle and the Beetle," in which a Hare, being preyed upon by an Eagle, asks the Beetle for Protection. The small insect agrees, but the Eagle fails to see it and strikes the Hare, killing it. From then on, the Beetle watched the Eagle's Nest and shook it when there were eggs inside, which then fell to the ground. Worried about her inability to reproduce, the Eagle asks a god for help, and the deity offers to store the eggs in its lap. The Beetle learns of this and puts a ball of dirt there among the eggs, and the god -in some accounts Zeus, in others Jupiter- rises, startled and the eggs fall out.
For this particular reason, it is said, Eagles never lay their eggs during the season when Beetles flourish.
"No matter how powerful one's position may be, there is nothing that can protect the Oppressor from the Vengeance of the Oppressed" is the moral associated with this particular fable.
Most of his tales told about human folly and the abuses of power. He lived during a period of Tyrannical Rule in Greece.
Also the trickster nature of some of his stories, where humans are regularly outwitted by a cleverer animal figure gives a sort of link to his African nature. Tales in which a man is portrayed coming to the aid of a Serpent acts also as mirrors that symbolizes the habitual kindness shown to Snakes by many African Tribes. Africans believed that Snakes were the repositories of the souls of their ancestors therefore they were cherished and invited to live in the houses of men.
Anthropomorphism, or animals with human capabilities, is the common denominator throughout Aesop's Fables. They often show the rich and powerful against the poor and weak. They also stress either the folly of taking on a stronger power, or the cunning which the weaker must deploy if he is to stand any chance of success; and they often warn that nature never changes.
The 1st written compilation of Aesop's Tales came from Demetrius of Phaleron around 320 BC, but it disappeared in the 9th century, 'Assemblies of Aesopic Tales.'
The 1st extant version of the fables is thought to be from Phaedrus, a former slave from Macedonia who translated the Tales into Latin in the 1st century CE., 'Romulus Collection.'
Valerius Bravius, a Greek living in Rome, translated these and other fables of the day into Greek in the 1st half of the 200s CE. 42 of those, in turn, were translated into Latin by Avianus around 400 CE.
There is also a link between Aesop and Islam. The prophet Mohamed mentioned 'Lok-Man,' said to be the wisest man in the East, in the 31st sura of the Koran. In Arab folklore, Lok-Man supposedly lived around 1100 BC and was an Ethiopian. His father, it was said, was descended from the biblical figure Job. Some of his tales may have been adapted by Aesop some 5 centuries after his death.
The Latin translation of Aesop's Tales helped them survive the ages. The moral teaching is everywhere essentially the same : that superiority is always insolent, because it is always accidental; that pride goes before a fall, .... and much more.