Please note: In order to keep Hive up to date and provide users with the best features, we are no longer able to fully support Internet Explorer. The site is still available to you, however some sections of the site may appear broken. We would encourage you to move to a more modern browser like Firefox, Edge or Chrome in order to experience the site fully.

Supporting your high street Find out how »
The Complete Fables, Paperback / softback Book

The Complete Fables Paperback / softback

Paperback / softback

In Stock - usually despatched within 24 hours

Description

A slave who represented his masters in court and negotiations, Aesop relied on allegorical animal stories, collected here in The Complete Fables, to convey his key points.

This Penguin Classics edition is translated from the Greek by Olivia and Robert Temple with an introduction by Robert Temple. In a series of pithy, amusing vignettes, Aesop created a vivid cast of characters to demonstrate different aspects of human nature.

Here we see a wily fox outwitted by a quick-thinking cicada, a tortoise triumphing over a self-confident hare and a fable-teller named Aesop silencing those who mock him.

Each jewel-like fable provides a warning about the consequences of wrongdoing, as well as offering a glimpse into the everyday lives of Ancient Greeks.

All Aesop's fables, full of humour, insight and savage wit, as well as many fascinating glimpses of ordinary life, have now been brought together for the first time in this definitive and fully annotated modern edition. Little is known for certain about the life of Aesop (c.620-564 BC), though details of his life are scattered throughout the works of ancient Greek writers including Aristophanes, Xenophon, Aristotle and Herodotus, who give grounds for thinking that he was a slave, and Plutarch, who identifies him as an entertaining storyteller, executed by the Delphians by being thrown off a cliff. If you enjoyed The Complete Fables, you might like Ovid's Metamorphoses, also available in Penguin Classics. 'Ground-breaking ... this version of the fables is a revelation ... the translation is excellent'Peter Jones, Sunday Telegraph'Aesop remains a fundamental figure in Western literature'Frederic Raphael, Sunday Times

Information

Other Formats

Save 8%

£8.99

£8.25

In Stock - usually despatched within 24 hours
Add to Basket
Sign in to add to wishlist
 
Free Home Delivery

on all orders

 
Pick up orders

from local bookshops

Information