According to the Greek historian Herodotus the fables were invented by a slavenamed Aesop who lived in Ancient Greece during the 5th century BC. While somesugge... » 

According to the Greek historian Herodotus the fables were invented by a slavenamed Aesop who lived in Ancient Greece during the 5th century BC. While somesuggested that Aesop did not actually exist and that the fables attributed tohim are folktales of unknown origins Aesop was indeed mentioned in severalother Ancient Greek works Aristophanes in his comedy The Waspsrepresented the protagonist Philocleon as having learnt the absurdities ofAesop from conversation at banquets Plato wrote in Phaedo that Socrateswhiled away his jail time turning some of Aesops fables which he knew intoverses Demetrius of Phalerum compiled the fables into a set of eleven booksLopson Aisopeion sunagogai which have been lost for the use of orators.There was also an edition in elegiac verse by an anonymous author which wasoften cited in the Suda. «