The first study to focus on the numerous ancient Greek fables occurring outside (and predating) the extant fable collections. Divided into three parts, its core is an intertextual analysis of the functions of fables and their allusions. Here the author covers many different authors and a variety of genres in Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic Greek Literature, ranging from lyric to historiography, from Aristotle to Hesiod and from Agamemnon to Zopyrus. This analysis is based on a study of both modern and ancient fable theory - the latter having hitherto never been studied in toto, and...

Spanning from Sumer to the present day few literary genres show greater continuity throughout their history than the fable. Historical evidence reaching as far back as Antiquity, supports the study of more than 500 works considered to be fables. This translation of the original Spanish, standard work on the fable, traces the history of the Graeco-Latin fable, investigates its origins, reconstructs lost collections from the Hellenistic Age, and establishes relationships between the fablist of the Imperial Age and the study of Medieval, Greek and Latin fables. Supplements at the end of each...