What is known of the life of [esop is brie?y this — He wasborn probably in Phrygia Major about 620 b.c., and died about 564 BC or it may be a little later. Herodotus mentions him as having been, along with the beautiful Rhodopis, a slave in the service of ladmon, who eventually gave him his liberty. The name of a former master was Xanthus. Plutarch speaks of fesop as being present, with Solon, at the court of Croesus, King of Lydia. He appears at Athens in the time of Pisistratus and Periander (see the Fable of the Frogs asking for a King, and the Fox and the Hedgehog He was sent by Croesus to distribute a sum of money among the Delphians: a dispute arose, and [esop saying that they were unworthy to receive the money, refused to give it. The Delphians, enraged, got up a charge of sacrilege against him, and he was thrown from a precipice and killed. The Del phians were afterwards visited by plagues, which they regarded as punishment by the gods for his unjust death. They accord ingly offered a sum of money, as compensation for the injury, to any connections of fesop who might be living. In default of any nearer connection, the money was claimed and received by the grandson of ladmon, the master to 'whom he owed his freedom. A statue by the hand of the celebrated sculptor, Lysippus, was erected in memory of [esop at Athens. There is no reason to think that he was ugly or deformed.
