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108-841: Verses from the poem are quoted by the Lion and the Unicorn in Aesop 's fable 110. In 1996, David Townsend published an English translation of the Alexandreis . This article related to a poem is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article related to the Latin language is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Aesop Aesop ( / ˈ iː s ɒ p / EE -sop or / ˈ eɪ s ɒ p / AY -sop ; ‹See Tfd› Greek : Αἴσωπος , Aísōpos ; c. 620–564 BCE; formerly rendered as Æsop )

216-422: A phyle or tribe and one of its subdivisions, the phratry or brotherhood, but also to an extended family, clan or genos . It has been argued that these interconnecting units of kinship reinforced a hierarchic structure with aristocratic clans at the top. Thus rivalries between aristocratic clans could engage all levels of society irrespective of any regional ties. In that case, the struggle between rich and poor

324-517: A "writer of fables" and Aristophanes speaks of "reading" Aesop, but that might simply have been a compilation of fables ascribed to him. Various Classical authors name Aesop as the originator of fables. Sophocles , in a poem addressed to Euripides , made reference to the North Wind and the Sun . Socrates , while in prison, turned some of the fables into verse, of which Diogenes Laërtius records

432-551: A convenient basis for an overview of the issues involved. Economic and ideological rivalry is a common theme in ancient sources. This sort of account emerges from Solon's poems, in which he casts himself in the role of a noble mediator between two intemperate and unruly factions. This same account is substantially taken up about three centuries later by the author of the Aristotelian Athenaion Politeia but with an interesting variation: ... there

540-428: A convenient framework within which to consider the laws that have been attributed to Solon. Some short-term consequences of his reforms are considered at the end of the section. Depending on how we interpret the historical facts known to us, Solon's constitutional reforms were either a radical anticipation of democratic government, or they merely provided a plutocratic flavour to a stubbornly aristocratic regime, or else

648-634: A crucial period of economic transition, when a subsistence rural economy increasingly required the support of a nascent commercial sector. The specific economic reforms credited to Solon are these: It is generally assumed, on the authority of ancient commentators, that Solon also reformed the Athenian coinage . However, recent numismatic studies now lead to the conclusion that Athens probably had no coinage until around 560 BC, well after Solon's reforms. Nevertheless, there are now reasons to suggest that monetization had already begun before Solon's reforms. By

756-539: A cunning trick or more directly through heroic battle around 595 BC. The Megarians, however, refused to give up their claim. The dispute was referred to the Spartans, who eventually awarded possession of the island to Athens on the strength of the case that Solon put to them. Plutarch professes admiration of Solon's elegy. The same poem was said by Diogenes Laërtius to have stirred Athenians more than any other verses that Solon wrote: Let us go to Salamis to fight for

864-611: A degree of acculturation . This is evident in Isango Portobello 's 2010 production of the play Aesop's Fables at the Fugard Theatre in Cape Town , South Africa. Based on a script by British playwright Peter Terson (1983), it was radically adapted by the director Mark Dornford-May as a musical using native African instrumentation, dance and stage conventions. Although Aesop is portrayed as Greek, and dressed in

972-461: A dwarfish hunchback, and his facial features appear to accord with his statement in the text (p. 7), "I am a Negro." The Spaniard Diego Velázquez painted a portrait of Aesop, dated 1639–40 and now in the collection of the Museo del Prado . The presentation is anachronistic and Aesop, while arguably not handsome, displays no physical deformities. It was partnered by another portrait of Menippus ,

1080-474: A family might voluntarily pledge part of its farm income or labour to a powerful clan in return for its protection. Farmers subject to these sorts of arrangements were loosely known as hektemoroi indicating that they either paid or kept a sixth of a farm's annual yield. In the event of 'bankruptcy', or failure to honour the contract stipulated by the horoi , farmers and their families could in fact be sold into slavery. Solon's reform of these injustices

1188-406: A folkbook, a work that belonged to no one, and the occasional writer felt free to modify as it might suit him." Multiple, sometimes contradictory, versions of this work exist. The earliest known version was probably composed in the 1st century CE, but the story may have circulated in different versions for centuries before it was committed to writing, and certain elements can be shown to originate in

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1296-502: A gift for clever storytelling, which he uses alternately to assist and confound his master, Xanthus, embarrassing the philosopher in front of his students and even sleeping with his wife. After interpreting a portent for the people of Samos, Aesop is given his freedom and acts as an emissary between the Samians and King Croesus. Later he travels to the courts of Lycurgus of Babylon and Nectanabo of Egypt – both imaginary rulers – in

1404-467: A known author that refers to Aesop's appearance is Himerius in the 4th century, who says that Aesop "was laughed at and made fun of, not because of some of his tales but on account of his looks and the sound of his voice." The evidence from both of these sources is dubious, since Himerius lived some 800 years after Aesop and his image of Aesop may have come from The Aesop Romance , which is essentially fiction; but whether based on fact or not, at some point

1512-619: A law relating to homicide, yet there is consensus among scholars that it did not amount to anything like a constitution. During his visit to Athens, Pausanias , the 2nd century AD geographer reported that the inscribed laws of Solon were still displayed by the Prytaneion. Fragments of the axones were still visible in Plutarch 's time but today the only records we have of Solon's laws are fragmentary quotes and comments in literary sources such as those written by Plutarch himself. Moreover,

1620-472: A man named Iadmon; that he must eventually have been freed, since he argued as an advocate for a wealthy Samian; and that he met his end in the city of Delphi . Plutarch tells us that Aesop came to Delphi on a diplomatic mission from King Croesus of Lydia, that he insulted the Delphians, that he was sentenced to death on a trumped-up charge of temple theft, and that he was thrown from a cliff (after which

1728-635: A mention in Herodotus 2.134-5 that Aesop had once been owned by the same master as Rhodopis, and the statement in Pliny 36.17 that she was Aesop's concubine as well, the play introduced Rodope as Aesop's mistress, a romantic motif that would be repeated in later popular depictions of Aesop. Sir John Vanbrugh 's comedy "Aesop" was premièred at the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane, London, in 1697 and

1836-460: A negro" found on several coins from ancient Delphi (with specimens dated as early as 520 BCE) might depict Aesop, presumably to commemorate (and atone for) his execution at Delphi, but Theodor Panofka supposed the head to be a portrait of Delphos , founder of Delphi, a view which was repeated later by Frank Snowden , who nevertheless notes that the arguments which have been advanced are not sufficient to establish such an identification. In 1876

1944-413: A noble or Eupatrid clan. Solon's father was probably Execestides. If so, his lineage could be traced back to Codrus , the last King of Athens . According to Diogenes Laërtius , he had a brother named Dropides, who was an ancestor (six generations removed) of Plato . According to Plutarch, Solon was related to the tyrant Pisistratus , for their mothers were cousins. Solon was eventually drawn into

2052-527: A number of reasons; Attic pleaders did not hesitate to attribute to him (Solon) any law which suited their case, and later writers had no criterion by which to distinguish earlier from later works. Nor can any complete and authentic collection of his statutes have survived for ancient scholars to consult. Besides the alleged legislative aspect of Solon's involvement with pederasty, there were also suggestions of personal involvement. Ancient readers concluded, based on his own erotic poetry, that Solon himself had

2160-435: A painting of Aesop surrounded by the animals of his fables. None of these images have survived. According to Philostratus: The Fables are gathering about Aesop, being fond of him because he devotes himself to them. For ... he checks greed and rebukes insolence and deceit, and in all this some animal is his mouthpiece—a lion or a fox or a horse ... and not even the tortoise is dumb—that through them children may learn

2268-476: A possible diplomatic mission for Croesus and a visit to Periander "are consistent with the year of Aesop's death." Still problematic is the story by Phaedrus, which has Aesop, in Athens, relating the fable of the frogs who asked for a king , because Phaedrus has this happening during the reign of Peisistratos , which occurred decades after the presumed date of Aesop's death. Along with the scattered references in

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2376-409: A preference for boys. According to some ancient authors Solon had taken the future tyrant Pisistratus as his eromenos . Aristotle, writing around 330 BC, attempted to refute that belief, claiming that "those are manifestly talking nonsense who pretend that Solon was the lover of Pisistratus, for their ages do not admit of it", as Solon was about thirty years older than Pisistratus. Nevertheless,

2484-549: A regulator of Athenian society, Solon, according to some authors, also formalized its sexual mores. According to a surviving fragment from a work ("Brothers") by the comic playwright Philemon , Solon established publicly funded brothels at Athens in order to "democratize" the availability of sexual pleasure. While the veracity of this comic account is open to doubt, at least one modern author considers it significant that in Classical Athens, three hundred or so years after

2592-589: A satirical philosopher equally of slave-origin. A similar philosophers series was painted by fellow Spaniard Jusepe de Ribera , who is credited with two portraits of Aesop. "Aesop, poet of the fables" is in the El Escorial gallery and pictures him as an author leaning on a staff by a table which holds copies of his work, one of them a book with the name Hissopo on the cover. The other is in the Museo de Prado, dated 1640–50 and titled "Aesop in beggar's rags." There he

2700-431: A section that appears to borrow heavily from the romance of Ahiqar . The story ends with Aesop's journey to Delphi, where he angers the citizens by telling insulting fables, is sentenced to death and, after cursing the people of Delphi, is forced to jump to his death. Aesop may not have written his fables. The Aesop Romance claims that he wrote them down and deposited them in the library of Croesus; Herodotus calls Aesop

2808-545: A set of contradictory stories or a complex story that might be interpreted in a variety of ways. As further evidence accumulates, and as historians continue to debate the issues, Solon's motivations and the intentions behind his reforms will continue to attract speculation. Two contemporary historians have identified three distinct historical accounts of Solon's Athens, emphasizing quite different rivalries: economic and/or ideological rivalry, regional rivalry, and rivalry between aristocratic clans. These different accounts provide

2916-401: A set of laws that were intended to promote and safeguard the institution of pederasty and to control abuses against freeborn boys. In particular, the orator Aeschines cites laws excluding slaves from wrestling halls and forbidding them to enter pederastic relationships with the sons of citizens. Accounts of Solon's laws by 4th century orators like Aeschines, however, are considered unreliable for

3024-521: A similar story about Socrates and the poet Stesichorus , quoting the philosopher's rapture in almost identical terms: ut aliquid sciens amplius e vita discedam , meaning "in order to leave life knowing a little more". The social and political upheavals that characterized Athens in Solon's time have been variously interpreted by historians from ancient times to the present day. The historical account of Solon's Athens has evolved over many centuries into

3132-489: A slave. Perhaps the most elaborate celebration of Aesop and his fables was the labyrinth of Versailles , a hedge maze constructed for Louis XIV with 39 fountains with lead sculptures depicting Aesop's fables . A statue of Aesop by Pierre Le Gros the Elder , depicted as a hunchback, stood on a pedestal at the entrance. Finished in 1677, the labyrinth was demolished in 1778, but the statue of Aesop survives and can be seen in

3240-471: A small fragment. The early Roman playwright and poet Ennius also rendered at least one of Aesop's fables in Latin verse, of which the last two lines still exist. Collections of what are claimed to be Aesop's Fables were transmitted by a series of authors writing in both Greek and Latin. Demetrius of Phalerum made what may have been the earliest, probably in prose ( Αἰσοπείων α ), contained in ten books for

3348-517: A staunch opponent of Pisistratus. In protest, and as an example to others, Solon stood outside his own home in full armour, urging all who passed to resist the machinations of the would-be tyrant. His efforts were in vain. Solon died shortly after Pisistratus usurped by force the autocratic power that Athens had once freely bestowed upon him. Solon died in Cyprus around the age of 70 and, in accordance with his will, his ashes were scattered around Salamis,

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3456-618: A surge in scholarly interest beginning toward the end of the 20th century, some attempt has been made to determine the nature and content of the very earliest fables which may be most closely linked to the historic Aesop. The anonymously authored Aesop Romance begins with a vivid description of Aesop's appearance, saying he was "of loathsome aspect ... potbellied, misshapen of head, snub-nosed, swarthy, dwarfish, bandy-legged, short-armed, squint-eyed, liver-lipped—a portentous monstrosity," or as another translation has it, "a faulty creation of Prometheus when half-asleep." The earliest text by

3564-614: A translation of the fables ( Esopo no Fabulas , 1593) that included the biography of Aesop. This was then taken up by Japanese printers and taken through several editions under the title Isopo Monogatari . Even when Europeans were expelled from Japan and Christianity proscribed, this text survived, in part because the figure of Aesop had been assimilated into the culture and depicted in woodcuts as dressed in Japanese costume. Ancient sources mention two statues of Aesop, one by Aristodemus and another by Lysippus , and Philostratus describes

3672-457: A work now lost. Avianus (of uncertain date, perhaps the 4th century) translated 42 of the fables into Latin elegiacs. The 4th-century grammarian Dositheus Magister also made a collection of Aesop's Fables, now lost. Aesop's Fables continued to be revised and translated through the ensuing centuries, with the addition of material from other cultures, so that the body of fables known today bears little relation to those Aesop originally told. With

3780-520: A writer in a household setting, handsome and wearing an earring. The 20th century saw the publication of three novels about Aesop. A. D. Wintle 's Aesop (London: Gollancz, 1943) was a plodding fictional biography described in a review of the time as so boring that it makes the fables embedded in it seem "complacent and exasperating." The two others, preferring the fictional Life to any approach to veracity, are genre works . In John Vornholt 's The Fabulist (New York: Avon, 1993), "an ugly, mute slave

3888-570: Is "worthless as to the reliability of Aesop as 'Ethiopian. ' " The notion of Aesop's African origin later reappeared in Britain, as attested by the lively figurine of a negro from the Chelsea porcelain factory which appeared in its Aesop series in the mid-18th century. In 1856 William Martin Leake repeated the false etymological linkage of "Aesop" with "Aethiop" when he suggested that the "head of

3996-460: Is also shown at a table, holding a sheet of paper in his left hand and writing with the other. While the former hints at his lameness and deformed back, the latter only emphasises his poverty. In 1690, French playwright Edmé Boursault 's Les fables d'Esope (later known as Esope à la ville ) premiered in Paris. A sequel, Esope à la cour (Aesop at Court ), was first performed in 1701; drawing on

4104-488: Is as widely known as any that has come down from Graeco-Roman antiquity [yet] it is far from certain whether a historical Aesop ever existed ... in the latter part of the fifth century something like a coherent Aesop legend appears, and Samos seems to be its home. The earliest Greek sources, including Aristotle , indicate that Aesop was born around 620 BCE in the Greek colony of Mesembria . A number of later writers from

4212-569: Is clever in representing the persons of the Fables. For it combines animals with men to make a chorus about Aesop, composed of the actors in his fables; and the fox is painted as leader of the chorus. With the advent of printing in Europe, various illustrators tried to recreate this scene. One of the earliest was in Spain's La vida del Ysopet con sus fabulas historiadas (1489, see above). In France there

4320-509: Is delivered from wretchedness by the gods and blessed with a wondrous voice. [It is] the tale of a most unlikely adventurer, dispatched to far and perilous realms to battle impossible beasts and terrible magicks." The other novel was George S. Hellman's Peacock's Feather (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1931). Its unlikely plot made it the perfect vehicle for the 1946 Hollywood spectacular, Night in Paradise . A dashing (not ugly) Turhan Bey

4428-449: Is seated under a tree and turns his head to look at her. His right arm rests on a cage of doves, as he points to the captive state of both of them. Otherwise, the picture illustrates how different the couple are. Rhodope and Aesop lean on opposite elbows, gesture with opposite hands, and while Rhodope's hand is held palm upwards, Aesop's is held palm downwards. She stands while he sits; he is dressed in dark clothes, she in lighter shades. When

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4536-559: Is ugly, with long hair, bald head, and unkempt, scraggly beard, and is clearly uncaring of his appearance." Some archaeologists have suggested that the Hellenistic statue of a bearded hunchback with an intellectual appearance, discovered in the 18th century and pictured at the head of this article, also depicts Aesop, although alternative identifications have since been put forward. Aesop began to appear early in literary works. The 4th-century-BCE Athenian playwright Alexis put Aesop on

4644-543: The seisachtheia (shaking off of burdens). He is described by Aristotle in the Athenian Constitution as "the first people's champion". Demosthenes credited Solon's reforms with starting a golden age. Modern knowledge of Solon is limited by the fact that his works only survive in fragments and appear to feature interpolations by later authors. It is further limited by the general paucity of documentary and archaeological evidence covering Athens in

4752-422: The hippeis . The top three classes were eligible for a variety of lesser posts and only the thetes were excluded from all public office. The real motives behind Solon's economic reforms are as questionable as his real motives for constitutional reform. Were the poor being forced to serve the needs of a changing economy, was the economy being reformed to serve the needs of the poor, or were Solon's policies

4860-547: The horoi clearly provided immediate economic relief for the most oppressed group in Attica, and it also brought an immediate end to the enslavement of Athenians by their countrymen. Some Athenians had already been sold into slavery abroad and some had fled abroad to escape enslavement – Solon proudly records in verse the return of this diaspora. It has been cynically observed, however, that few of these unfortunates were likely to have been recovered. It has been observed also that

4968-430: The seisachtheia not only removed slavery and accumulated debt but may also have removed the ordinary farmer's only means of obtaining further credit. The seisachtheia however was merely one set of reforms within a broader agenda of moral reformation. Other reforms included: Demosthenes claimed that the city's subsequent golden age included "personal modesty and frugality" among the Athenian aristocracy. As

5076-576: The Perry Index , concluded that, due to problems of chronological reconciliation dating the death of Aesop and the reign of Croesus, "everything in the ancient testimony about Aesop that pertains to his associations with either Croesus or with any of the so-called Seven Wise Men of Greece must be reckoned as literary fiction." Perry likewise dismissed accounts of Aesop's death in Delphi as mere fictional legends. However, later research has established that

5184-822: The 2nd-century satirist Lucian ; when the narrator arrives at the Island of the Blessed, he finds that "Aesop the Phrygian was there, too; he acts as their jester." Beginning with the Heinrich Steinhowel edition of 1476, many translations of the fables into European languages, which also incorporated Planudes 's "Life of Aesop", featured illustrations depicting him as a hunchback. The 1687 edition of Aesop's Fables with His Life: in English, French and Latin included 31 engravings by Francis Barlow that show him as

5292-496: The 4th century BCE. Scholars long dismissed any historical or biographical validity in The Aesop Romance ; widespread study of the work began only toward the end of the 20th century. In The Aesop Romance , Aesop is a slave of Phrygian origin on the island of Samos, and extremely ugly. At first he lacks the power of speech, but after showing kindness to a priestess of Isis , is granted by the goddess not only speech but

5400-580: The Aegean between 600 BC and 560 BC, a success story that coincided with a decline in trade in Corinthian pottery. The ban on the export of grain might be understood as a relief measure for the benefit of the poor. However, the encouragement of olive production for export could actually have led to increased hardship for many Athenians to the extent that it led to a reduction in the amount of land dedicated to grain. Moreover, an olive tree produces no fruit for

5508-626: The Areopagus favoured his prosecution. According to the Athenian Constitution , Solon legislated for all citizens to be admitted into the Ekklesia and for a court (the Heliaia ) to be formed from all the citizens. The Heliaia appears to have been the Ekklesia, or some representative portion of it, sitting as a jury. By giving common people the power not only to elect officials but also to call them to account, Solon appears to have established

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5616-538: The Athenians could not induce him to repeal any of his laws. Within four years of Solon's departure, the old social rifts re-appeared, but with some new complications. There were irregularities in the new governmental procedures, elected officials sometimes refused to stand down from their posts and occasionally important posts were left vacant. It has even been said that some people blamed Solon for their troubles. Eventually one of Solon's relatives, Pisistratus, ended

5724-582: The Delphians suffered pestilence and famine). Before this fatal episode, Aesop met with Periander of Corinth , where Plutarch has him dining with the Seven Sages of Greece and sitting beside his friend Solon , whom he had met in Sardis. (Leslie Kurke suggests that Aesop was himself "a popular contender for inclusion" in the list of Seven Sages.) In 1965, Ben Edwin Perry , an Aesop scholar and compiler of

5832-579: The Grapes" 1953) marked Aesop's entry into Brazilian theatre. The three-act play was by Guilherme Figueiredo and has been performed in many countries, including a videotaped production in China in 2000 under the title Hu li yu pu tao or 狐狸与葡萄 . The play is described as an allegory about freedom with Aesop as the main character. Occasions on which Aesop was played as black include Richard Durham 's Destination Freedom radio show broadcast (1949), where

5940-665: The Italian painter Roberto Fontana portrayed the fabulist as black in Aesop Narrates His Fables to the Handmaids of Xanthus . When the painting was shown at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1878, a French critic was dubious: "Why is M. Fontana's Aesop ... black as an Ethiopian? Perhaps M. Fontana knows more about Aesop than we do, which would not be difficult." The idea that Aesop

6048-562: The Roman imperial period (including Phaedrus , who adapted the fables into Latin) say that he was born in Phrygia . The 3rd-century poet Callimachus called him "Aesop of Sardis ," and the later writer Maximus of Tyre called him "the sage of Lydia ." By Aristotle and Herodotus we are told that Aesop was a slave in Samos ; that his slave masters were first a man named Xanthus, and then

6156-519: The ancient sources regarding the life and death of Aesop, there is a highly fictional biography now commonly called The Aesop Romance (also known as the Vita or The Life of Aesop or The Book of Xanthus the Philosopher and Aesop His Slave ), "an anonymous work of Greek popular literature composed around the second century of our era ... Like The Alexander Romance , The Aesop Romance became

6264-404: The business of life. So the Fables, honoured because of Aesop, gather at the doors of the wise man to bind fillets about his head and to crown him with a victor's crown of wild olive. And Aesop, methinks, is weaving some fable; at any rate his smile and his eyes fixed on the ground indicate this. The painter knows that for the composition of fables relaxation of the spirit is needed. And the painting

6372-405: The death of Solon, there existed a discourse that associated his reforms with an increased availability of heterosexual contacts. Ancient authors also say that Solon regulated pederastic relationships in Athens; this has been presented as an adaptation of custom to the new structure of the polis . According to various authors, ancient lawgivers (and therefore Solon by implication) drew up

6480-498: The diminutive fabulist seated on a high pedestal, surrounded by an enraptured crowd. When Julian Russell Story 's Aesop's Fables was exhibited in 1884, Henry James wrote to a correspondent: "Julian Story has a very clever & big Subject— Aesop telling fables  ... He has a real talent but ... carries even further (with less ability) Sargent 's danger—that of seeing the ugliness of things." Conversely, Aesop Composing His Fables by Charles Landseer (1799–1879) depicts

6588-523: The drama "The Death of Aesop" portrayed him as an Ethiopian. In 1971, Bill Cosby starred as Aesop in the TV production Aesop's Fables – The Tortoise and the Hare . He was also played by Mhlekahi Mosiea in the 2010 South Africa adaptation of British playwright Peter Terson 's musical Aesop's Fables . Solon Solon ( ‹See Tfd› Greek : Σόλων ; c.  630  – c.  560  BC)

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6696-451: The early 6th century BC. Ancient authors such as Philo of Alexandria , Herodotus , and Plutarch are the main sources, but wrote about Solon long after his death. Fourth-century BC orators, such as Aeschines , tended to attribute to Solon all the laws of their own, much later times. Solon was born in Athens around 630 BC. His family was distinguished in Attica as they belonged to

6804-439: The early sixth century the Athenians were using silver in the form of a variety of bullion silver pieces for monetary payments. Drachma and obol as a term of bullion value had already been adopted, although the corresponding standard weights were probably unstable. Solon's economic reforms succeeded in stimulating foreign trade. Athenian black-figure pottery was exported in increasing quantities and good quality throughout

6912-647: The factionalism by force, thus instituting an unconstitutionally gained tyranny . In Plutarch's account, Solon accused Athenians of stupidity and cowardice for allowing this to happen. Solon's first stop in his travels was Egypt. There, according to Herodotus, he visited the Pharaoh of Egypt, Amasis II . According to Plutarch, he spent some time and discussed philosophy with two Egyptian priests, Psenophis of Heliopolis and Sonchis of Sais . A character in two of Plato's dialogues, Timaeus and Critias , claims Solon visited Neith 's temple at Sais and received from

7020-535: The first six years (but farmers' difficulty of lasting until payback may also give rise to a mercantilist argument in favour of supporting them through that, since the British case illustrates that "One domestic policy that had a lasting impact was the conversion of 'waste lands' to agricultural use. Mercantilists felt that to maximize a nation's power all land and resources had to be used to their utmost"). In his poems, Solon portrays Athens as being under threat from

7128-477: The foundations of a true republic. There is consensus among scholars that Solon lowered the requirements – those that existed in terms of financial and social qualifications – which applied to election to public office. The Solonian constitution divided citizens into four political classes defined according to assessable property a classification that might previously have served the state for military or taxation purposes only. The standard unit for this assessment

7236-633: The idea of an ugly, even deformed Aesop took hold in popular imagination. Scholars have begun to examine why and how this "physiognomic tradition" developed. A much later tradition depicts Aesop as a black African from Aethiopia . The first known promulgator of the idea was Planudes , a Byzantine scholar of the 13th century who made a recension of The Aesop Romance in which it is conjectured that Aesop might have been Ethiopian, given his name. But according to Gert-Jan van Dijk, "Planudes' derivation of 'Aesop' from 'Aethiopian' is ... etymologically incorrect," and Frank Snowden says that Planudes' account

7344-426: The island We desire, and drive away from our bitter shame! One fragment describes assorted breads and cakes: They drink and some nibble honey and sesame cakes ( itria ), others their bread, other gouroi mixed with lentils. In that place, not one cake was unavailable of all those that the black earth bears for human beings, and all were present unstintingly. According to Diogenes Laertius, in 594 BC, Solon

7452-630: The island where he was born. Pausanias listed Solon among the Seven Sages , whose aphorisms adorned Apollo's temple in Delphi . Stobaeus in the Florilegium relates a story about a symposium where Solon's young nephew was singing a poem of Sappho 's: Solon, upon hearing the song, asked the boy to teach him to sing it. When someone asked, "Why should you waste your time on it?", Solon replied, " ἵνα μαθὼν αὐτὸ ἀποθάνω ", "So that I may learn it before I die." Ammianus Marcellinus , however, told

7560-471: The language of his laws was archaic even by the standards of the fifth century and this caused interpretation problems for ancient commentators. Modern scholars doubt the reliability of these sources and our knowledge of Solon's legislation is therefore actually very limited in its details. Generally, Solon's reforms appear to have been constitutional, economic, moral, and sexual in their scope. This distinction, though somewhat artificial, does at least provide

7668-763: The manifestation of a struggle taking place between poorer citizens and the aristocrats? Solon's economic reforms need to be understood in the context of the primitive, subsistence economy that prevailed both before and after his time. Most Athenians were still living in rural settlements right up to the Peloponnesian War . Opportunities for trade even within the Athenian borders were limited. The typical farming family, even in classical times, barely produced enough to satisfy its own needs. Opportunities for international trade were minimal. It has been estimated that, even in Roman times, goods rose 40% in value for every 100 miles they were carried over land, but only 1.3% for

7776-456: The other two, formed an obstruction and prevented the other groups from gaining control. Regional rivalry is a theme commonly found among modern scholars. "The new picture which emerged was one of strife between regional groups, united by local loyalties and led by wealthy landowners. Their goal was to take control of the central government at Athens and with it dominate over their rivals from other districts of Attica." Regional factionalism

7884-470: The priests there an account of the history of Atlantis . Next, Solon sailed to Cyprus , where he oversaw the construction of a new capital for a local king, in gratitude for which the king named it Soloi . Solon's travels finally brought him to Sardis , capital of Lydia . According to Herodotus and Plutarch, he met with Croesus and gave the Lydian king advice, which Croesus failed to appreciate until it

7992-411: The representation of Aesop as an ugly slave emerged. The later tradition which makes Aesop a black African resulted in depictions ranging from 17th-century engravings to a television portrayal by a black comedian. In general, beginning in the 20th century, plays have shown Aesop as a slave, but not ugly, while movies and television shows (such as The Bullwinkle Show ) have depicted him as neither ugly nor

8100-477: The rest. Attika in Solon's time seemed to be moving towards a similarly ugly solution with many citizens in danger of being reduced to the status of helots . Rivalry between clans is a theme recently developed by some scholars, based on an appreciation of the political significance of kinship groupings. According to this account, bonds of kinship rather than local loyalties were the decisive influence on events in archaic Athens. An Athenian belonged not only to

8208-428: The same distance were they carried by ship and yet there is no evidence that Athens possessed any merchant ships until around 525 BC. Until then, the narrow warship doubled as a cargo vessel. Athens, like other Greek city states in the 7th century BC, was faced with increasing population pressures and by about 525 BC it was able to feed itself only in good years. Solon's reforms can thus be seen to have taken place at

8316-414: The short Greek tunic, the all-black production contextualises the story in the recent history of South Africa . The former slave, we are told "learns that liberty comes with responsibility as he journeys to his own freedom, joined by the animal characters of his parable-like fables." There had already been an example of Asian acculturation in 17th-century Japan. There Portuguese missionaries had introduced

8424-439: The stage in his comedy "Aesop", of which a few lines survive ( Athenaeus 10.432); conversing with Solon, Aesop praises the Athenian practice of adding water to wine. Leslie Kurke suggests that Aesop may have been "a staple of the comic stage" of this era. The 3rd-century-BCE poet Poseidippus of Pella wrote a narrative poem entitled "Aesopia" (now lost), in which Aesop's fellow slave Rhodopis (under her original name Doricha)

8532-535: The stories of the trickster Br'er Rabbit told by African slaves in North America. In Ian Colvin 's introduction to Aesop in Politics (1914), for example, the fabulist is bracketed with Uncle Remus , "For both were slaves, and both were black." The traditional role of the slave Aesop as "a kind of culture hero of the oppressed" is further promoted by the fictional Life , emerging "as a how-to handbook for

8640-482: The successful manipulation of superiors." Such a perception was reinforced at the popular level by the 1971 TV production Aesop's Fables in which Bill Cosby played Aesop. In that mixture of live action and animation, Aesop tells fables that differentiate between realistic and unrealistic ambition and his version there of " The Tortoise and the Hare " illustrates how to take advantage of an opponent's over-confidence. On other continents Aesop has occasionally undergone

8748-560: The theme of their relationship was taken up again by Walter Savage Landor , in the two dialogues between the pair in his series of Imaginary Conversations , it is the difference in their ages that is most emphasised. Théodore de Banville 's 1893 comedy Ésope later dealt with Aesop and Rhodopis at the court of King Croesus in Sardis. Along with Fontana's Aesop Narrates His Fables to the Handmaids of Xanthus , two other 19th-century paintings show Aesop surrounded by listeners. Johann Michael Wittmer 's Aesop Tells His Fables (1879) depicts

8856-432: The tradition persisted. Four centuries later Plutarch ignored Aristotle's skepticism and recorded the following anecdote, supplemented with his own conjectures: And they say Solon loved [Pisistratus]; and that is the reason, I suppose, that when afterwards they differed about the government, their enmity never produced any hot and violent passion, they remembered their old kindnesses, and retained "Still in its embers living

8964-439: The traditional description of him as a strikingly ugly slave ( δοῦλος ) who by his cleverness acquires freedom and becomes an adviser to kings and city-states. Older spellings of his name have included Esop(e) and Isope . Depictions of Aesop in popular culture over the last 2,500 years have included many works of art and his appearance as a character in numerous books, films, plays, and television programs. The name of Aesop

9072-676: The truth lies somewhere between these two extremes. Before Solon's reforms, the Athenian state was administered by nine archons appointed or elected annually by the Areopagus on the basis of noble birth and wealth. There was an assembly of Athenian citizens (the Ekklesia ) but the lowest class (the Thetes ) was not admitted and its deliberative procedures were controlled by the nobles. There therefore seemed to be no means by which an archon could be called to account for breach of oath unless

9180-524: The unaristocratic pursuit of commerce. When Athens and its neighbor and rival in the Saronic Gulf , Megara , were contesting the possession of Salamis , Solon was made leader of the Athenian forces. After repeated disasters, Solon was able to improve the morale of his troops through a nationalist poem he wrote about the island. Supported by Pisistratus, he defeated the Megarians either by means of

9288-424: The unrestrained greed and arrogance of its citizens. Even the earth ( Gaia ), the mighty mother of the gods, had been enslaved. The visible symbol of this perversion of the natural and social order was a boundary marker called a horos , a wooden or stone pillar indicating that a farmer was in debt or under contractual obligation to someone else, either a noble patron or a creditor . Up until Solon's time, land

9396-454: The use of orators, although that has since been lost. Next appeared an edition in elegiac verse, cited by the Suda , but the author's name is unknown. Phaedrus , a freedman of Augustus , rendered the fables into Latin in the 1st century CE. At about the same time Babrius turned the fables into Greek choliambics . A 3rd-century author, Titianus, is said to have rendered the fables into prose in

9504-609: The vestibule of the Queen's Staircase at Versailles. In 1843, the archaeologist Otto Jahn suggested that Aesop was the person depicted on a Greek red-figure cup, c. 450 BCE, in the Vatican Museums . Paul Zanker describes the figure as a man with "emaciated body and oversized head ... furrowed brow and open mouth", who "listens carefully to the teachings of the fox sitting before him. He has pulled his mantle tightly around his meager body, as if he were shivering ... he

9612-793: The wisdom to sort out their differences for them in a peaceful and equitable manner. Some modern scholars believe these powers were in fact granted some years after Solon had been archon, when he would have been a member of the Areopagus and probably a more respected statesman by his peers. As archon, Solon discussed his intended reforms with some friends. Knowing that he was about to cancel all debts, these friends took out loans and promptly bought some land. Suspected of complicity, Solon complied with his own law and released his own debtors, amounting to five talents (or 15 according to some sources). His friends never repaid their debts. After completing his work of reform, Solon surrendered his extraordinary authority and traveled abroad for ten years, so that

9720-512: Was Ethiopian seems supported by the presence of camels, elephants and apes in the fables, even though these African elements are more likely to have come from Egypt and Libya than from Ethiopia, and the fables featuring African animals may have entered the body of Aesopic fables long after Aesop actually lived. Nevertheless, in 1932 the anthropologist J. H. Driberg, repeating the Aesop/Aethiop linkage, asserted that, while "some say he [Aesop]

9828-433: Was I. Baudoin's Fables d'Ésope Phrygien (1631) and Matthieu Guillemot's Les images ou tableaux de platte peinture des deux Philostrates (1637). In England, there was Francis Cleyn's frontispiece to John Ogilby 's The Fables of Aesop and the much later frontispiece to Godwin's Fables Ancient and Modern mentioned above in which the fabulist points out three of his characters to the children seated about him. Early on,

9936-683: Was a Greek fabulist and storyteller credited with a number of fables now collectively known as Aesop's Fables . Although his existence remains unclear and no writings by him survive, numerous tales credited to him were gathered across the centuries and in many languages in a storytelling tradition that continues to this day. Many of the tales associated with him are characterized by anthropomorphic animal characters. Scattered details of Aesop's life can be found in ancient sources, including Aristotle , Herodotus , and Plutarch . An ancient literary work called The Aesop Romance tells an episodic, probably highly fictional version of his life, including

10044-473: Was a Phrygian ... the more general view ... is that he was an African", and "if Aesop was not an African, he ought to have been;" and in 2002 Richard A. Lobban Jr. cited the number of African animals and "artifacts" in the Aesopic fables as " circumstantial evidence " that Aesop was a Nubian folkteller. Popular perception of Aesop as black was to be encouraged by comparison between his fables and

10152-434: Was an archaic Athenian statesman, lawmaker , political philosopher, and poet. He is one of the Seven Sages of Greece and credited with laying the foundations for Athenian democracy . Solon's efforts to legislate against political, economic and moral decline resulted in his constitutional reform overturning most of Draco 's laws . Solon's reforms included debt relief later known and celebrated among Athenians as

10260-521: Was cast as Aesop. In a plot containing "some of the most nonsensical screen doings of the year," he becomes entangled with the intended bride of King Croesus , a Persian princess played by Merle Oberon , and makes such a hash of it that he has to be rescued by the gods. The 1953 teleplay Aesop and Rhodope takes up another theme of his fictional history. Written by Helene Hanff , it was broadcast on Hallmark Hall of Fame with Lamont Johnson playing Aesop. The three-act A raposa e as uvas ("The Fox and

10368-416: Was chosen archon , or chief magistrate. Solon repealed all of Draco's laws except those relating to homicide. During Solon's time, many Greek city-states had seen the emergence of tyrants , opportunistic noblemen who had taken power on behalf of sectional interests. Solon was described by Plutarch as having been temporarily awarded autocratic powers by Athenian citizens on the grounds that he had

10476-420: Was conflict between the nobles and the common people for an extended period. For the constitution they were under was oligarchic in every respect and especially in that the poor, along with their wives and children, were in slavery to the rich...All the land was in the hands of a few. And if men did not pay their rents, they themselves and their children were liable to be seized as slaves. The security for all loans

10584-459: Was frequently mentioned, according to Athenaeus 13.596. Pliny would later identify Rhodopis as Aesop's lover, a romantic motif that would be repeated in subsequent popular depictions of Aesop. Aesop plays a fairly prominent part in Plutarch 's conversation piece "The Banquet of the Seven Sages" in the 1st century CE. The fabulist then makes a cameo appearance in the novel A True Story by

10692-403: Was frequently performed there for the next twenty years. A translation and adaptation of Boursault's Les fables d'Esope , Vanbrugh's play depicted a physically ugly Aesop acting as adviser to Learchus, governor of Cyzicus under King Croesus, and using his fables to solve romantic problems and quiet political unrest. In 1780, the anonymously authored novelette The History and Amours of Rhodope

10800-577: Was inevitable in a relatively large territory such as Athens possessed. In most Greek city states, a farmer could conveniently reside in a town and travel to and from his fields every day. According to Thucydides , on the other hand, most Athenians continued to live in rural settlements right up until the Peloponnesian War . The effects of regionalism in a large territory could be seen in Laconia , where Sparta had gained control through intimidation and resettlement of some of its neighbours and enslavement of

10908-500: Was later known and celebrated among Athenians as the seisachtheia (shaking off of burdens). As with all his reforms, there is considerable scholarly debate about its real significance. Many scholars are content to accept the account given by the ancient sources, interpreting it as a cancellation of debts , while others interpret it as the abolition of a type of feudal relationship, and some prefer to explore new possibilities for interpretation. The reforms included: The removal of

11016-480: Was one medimnos (approximately 12 gallons) of cereals and yet the kind of classification set out below might be considered too simplistic to be historically accurate. According to the Athenian Constitution , only the pentakosiomedimnoi were eligible for election to high office as archons and therefore only they gained admission into the Areopagus. A modern view affords the same privilege to

11124-531: Was published in London. The story casts the two slaves Rhodope and Aesop as unlikely lovers, one ugly and the other beautiful; ultimately Rhodope is parted from Aesop and marries the Pharaoh of Egypt. Some editions of the volume were illustrated with an engraving of a work by the painter Angelica Kauffman . The Beautiful Rhodope in Love with Aesop pictures Rhodope leaning on an urn; she holds out her hand to Aesop, who

11232-402: Was the debtor's prison up to the time of Solon. He was the first people's champion. Here Solon is presented as a partisan in a democratic cause whereas, judged from the viewpoint of his own poems, he was instead a mediator between rival factions. A still more significant variation in the ancient historical account appears in the writing of Plutarch in the late 1st – early 2nd century AD: Athens

11340-472: Was the inalienable property of a family or clan and it could not be sold or mortgaged. This was no disadvantage to a clan with large landholdings since it could always rent out farms in a sharecropping system. A family struggling on a small farm however could not use the farm as security for a loan even if it owned the farm. Instead the farmer would have to offer himself and his family as security, providing some form of slave labour in lieu of repayment. Equally,

11448-509: Was the struggle between powerful aristocrats and the weaker affiliates of their rivals or perhaps even with their own rebellious affiliates. Solon's laws were inscribed on axones , large wooden slabs or cylinders attached to a series of axles that stood upright in the Prytaneion . Originally the axones recorded laws enacted by Draco in the late 7th century (traditionally 621 BC). Nothing of Draco's codification has survived except for

11556-503: Was too late. Croesus had considered himself to be the happiest man alive and Solon had advised him, "Count no man happy until he be dead." The reasoning was that at any minute, fortune might turn on even the happiest man and make his life miserable. It was only after he had lost his kingdom to the Persian king Cyrus , while awaiting execution, that Croesus acknowledged the wisdom of Solon's advice. After his return to Athens, Solon became

11664-400: Was torn by recurrent conflict about the constitution. The city was divided into as many parties as there were geographical divisions in its territory. For the party of the people of the hills was most in favour of democracy, that of the people of the plain was most in favour of oligarchy, while the third group, the people of the coast, which preferred a mixed form of constitution somewhat between

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