I read an illustrated edition of Aesop’s Fables earlier this year and came away quite disappointed. I knew Aesop lived in the 7th century BC, but the book of fables contained elements from much later during the Roman period. I came away confused and wanting to know more.

Someone suggested I pick up the Loeb Classical Library version of Babrius and Phaedrus to dig deeper. I’m so glad I did.

We don’t have actual writings or fables from Aesop. We do have collections from 600+ years later from these two, Babrius and Phaedrus, who collected, added, and made innovations to Aesop’s Fables. Babrius wrote in Greek and Phaedrus in Latin. So, technically, this Loeb book should look like this:

Here’s my original episode covering the illustrated Aesop’s Fables: