Aesop's Fables have been reinterpretations of the meaning of fables and changes in emphasis over time. Apollonius of Tyana, a 1st-century CE philosopher, is recorded as having said about Aesop: The Greek historian Herodotus mentioned in passing that "Aesop the fable writer" was a slave who lived in Ancient Greece during the 5th century BCE. Among references in other writers, Aristophanes, in his comedy "The Wasps", represented the protagonist Philocleon as having learnt the "absurdities" of Aesop from conversation at banquets; Plato wrote in "Phaedo "that Socrates whiled away his time in prison turning some of Aesop's fables "which he knew" into
Ancient Greek literature themes originating in ancient Greece. The ideas expressed in Aristotle's "Poetics", in particular, have influenced generations of Western writers and literary critics. A Latin translation of an Arabic version of the "Poetics" by Averroes was available during the Middle Ages. Common Greek literary terms still used today include: "catharsis", "ethos", "anagnorisis", "hamartia", "hubris", "mimesis", "mythos", "nemesis", and "peripeteia". Ancient Greek literature Ancient Greek literature refers to literature written in the Ancient Greek language from the earliest texts until the time of the Byzantine Empire. The earliest surviving works of ancient Greek literature, dating back to the early Archaic period, are