Aesop died in 564 BCE in Delphi, aged about 56. A storyteller of ancient Greece, Aesop is credited with a large collection of fables in which animals speak and behave like humans to illustrate a moral, such as The Tortoise and the Hare and The Fox and the Grapes. Little is certain about his life: ancient writers, including Herodotus, described him as a slave on the island of Samos, and later biographies added legends about his wit and ugliness. The fables attributed to him were circulated and expanded over centuries, translated into Latin and other languages, and remain among the most widely known tales in the world.
Before and after
- c. 595 BCESolon reforms Athens
- from 589 BCE to 587 BCESiege of Jerusalem
- 587 BCENebuchadnezzar destroys Jerusalem and the First Temple
- 575 BCEIshtar Gate
- 564 BCEDeath of Aesop
- from 553 BCE to 428 CEKingdom of Armenia
- c. 550s BCEConstruction of Circus Maximus
- 551 BCEDeath of Zoroaster
- 551 BCEBirth of Confucius
More in Art, literature & culture
- 26th century BCEThe Great Sphinx
- c. 430s BCEHerodotus writes the Histories
- 2nd century BCEVenus de Milo
- c. 20 BCEVirgil's Aeneid is published
- c. 4 BCENativity of Jesus
- 325 CEFirst Council of Nicaea
The era
This moment belongs to the Ancient civilizations (3,200 BCE to 500 CE), writing, cities and empires. You can also browse everything in the 6th century BCE.