Aesop, the master storyteller We are all aware of the leading Greek thinkers traveling to Kemet and bringing back new ideas, and knowledge of the exact sciences. And a number of scholars have documented this. I have add to that list with my arguments in Distorted Truths. But Afrikan thought inspired the Greeks on other levels as well. And this one Afrikan had a profound influence on Greek education. His name is from the archaic Greek "Ethiop" in reference to a person of Afrikan origin. Ethiop, translates as “Ethi” meaning black and “op” meaning face. The first known mention of Aethiop or Aesop is in Herodotus' History. According to Herodotus, he lived in Samos in the 6th century BC and eventually was freed by his master, receiving his liberation in Iadmon. Other accounts connect him with many wild adventures and attach him with such rulers as Solon and Croesus. During the reign of Peisistratus, Aesop visited Athens, where he told the fable of "The Frogs Asking for a King." He told the story to deter the citizens from attempting to replace Peisistratus with another ruler. He prospered most about 550 BC, and was killed around 560 BC, ordered probably by a decree of the Delphic oracle, according to historical legends.
There was no such thing as a fabulist in Greece before Aesop. And just like in the case of philosophy, there was no such thing as a philosopher until Thales returned from Kemet, and began teaching the Greeks Kemetic Cosmology (thereby receiving the title, “philosopher”). Well there was no such things as Greek fables until Aesop introduced them. The varying corpus denoted Aesopica or Aesop's Fables includes most of the best-known western fables, which are attributed to Aesop. He was an Ethiopian slave though when Babrius set down fables from the Aesopica for Alexander, he expressly stated that Aesop had introduced to the "sons of the Hellenes" his fables that were an invention of "Syrians" from the time of "Ninos." Of course this is not the case.
Although many modern writers and a few ancient ones deny the Afrikanity of Aesop, his Afrikan origin is obvious. First, he was said to be a stutterer. Why is this significant? Because it is the term used by the Greeks to designate a person who spoke Greek with a foreign accent. In many classical texts, the Nubian speech was referred to as "Berber" or "Barabra," because of their "unknown stuttering." But moreover, Aesop's Afrikan origin is apparent in his use of Afrikan fauna and flora. Most of the animals he incorporated, such as elephants, camels, lions, crocodiles, scarabs, jackals, monkeys, apes, scorpions, poisonous asps, and huge snakes, were alien to Greece. These were in fact common animals in Nubia and Kemet. This is similar to Thales being credited with introducing geometry and various astronomical data into Greece. Yet his borrowing from Kemet was obvious since several of his star risings are on a more southern orientation than Greece is situated.
Although Aesop's fables may seem childish in their style and themes, adults took them very seriously. Children enjoyed the simple stories, while adults saw the moral truths underlying the many of them. The target audience of Aesop's fables was not children. Aesop's fables were for everyone; they were lessons for the whole populace of Greece. We must remember that Greece was an oral culture and most of the population was illiterate. Aesop's fables were for them. But his fables were also for the academy. In ancient Greek and Roman education, the fable was the first of the progymnasmata—training exercises in prose composition and public speaking—wherein students would be asked to learn fables, expand upon them, invent their own, and finally use them as persuasive examples in longer forensic or deliberative speeches. The need of instructors to teach, and students to learn, a wide range of fables as material for their declamations resulted in their being gathered together in collections, like those of Aesop.
The earliest mentioned collection was by Demetrius of Phalerum, an Athenian orator and statesman of the 4th century BCE, who compiled the fables into a set of ten books for the use of orators. The first extensive translation of Aesop into Latin iambic trimeters was done by Phaedrus, a freedman of Caesar Augustus in the 1st century CE, although at least one fable had already been translated by the poet Ennius two centuries earlier and others are referred to in the work of Horace. The rhetorician Aphthonius of Antioch, wrote a treatise on, and converted into Latin prose, some forty of these fables in 315. The rhetoricians and philosophers were accustomed to give Aesopica as an exercise to their scholars, not only inviting them to discuss the moral of the tale, but also to practice and to perfect themselves thereby in style and rules of grammar by making new versions of their own.
One problem with our Greek introduction to Aesop is, they treat him as an individual and he is personally credited with the creation of his stories, rather than him being seen as a part of a tradition, an Afrikan tradition that goes back as far as the San and Mbuti. We now know that many of his stories or fables have since been found on Kemetic papyri known to date between 800 and 1000 years before Aesop's time. This clearly indicates Aesop's Afrikan and perhaps even Kemetic heritage. Aesop was a master storyteller, and this is part of the Afrikan tradition. His use of animals, their personalities, combined with Nature, was totally unknown in the Greek world.
So here we see Afrikan thought influencing the Greeks again. The Afrikan influence on Greek thought was great. They would become our wayward offspring. When will the West stop trying to make us disappear and give credit where credit is due. And when will we embrace our worldview and culture and get this 800-lb gorilla off our backs.
There was no such thing as a fabulist in Greece before Aesop. And just like in the case of philosophy, there was no such thing as a philosopher until Thales returned from Kemet, and began teaching the Greeks Kemetic Cosmology (thereby receiving the title, “philosopher”). Well there was no such things as Greek fables until Aesop introduced them. The varying corpus denoted Aesopica or Aesop's Fables includes most of the best-known western fables, which are attributed to Aesop. He was an Ethiopian slave though when Babrius set down fables from the Aesopica for Alexander, he expressly stated that Aesop had introduced to the "sons of the Hellenes" his fables that were an invention of "Syrians" from the time of "Ninos." Of course this is not the case.
Although many modern writers and a few ancient ones deny the Afrikanity of Aesop, his Afrikan origin is obvious. First, he was said to be a stutterer. Why is this significant? Because it is the term used by the Greeks to designate a person who spoke Greek with a foreign accent. In many classical texts, the Nubian speech was referred to as "Berber" or "Barabra," because of their "unknown stuttering." But moreover, Aesop's Afrikan origin is apparent in his use of Afrikan fauna and flora. Most of the animals he incorporated, such as elephants, camels, lions, crocodiles, scarabs, jackals, monkeys, apes, scorpions, poisonous asps, and huge snakes, were alien to Greece. These were in fact common animals in Nubia and Kemet. This is similar to Thales being credited with introducing geometry and various astronomical data into Greece. Yet his borrowing from Kemet was obvious since several of his star risings are on a more southern orientation than Greece is situated.
Although Aesop's fables may seem childish in their style and themes, adults took them very seriously. Children enjoyed the simple stories, while adults saw the moral truths underlying the many of them. The target audience of Aesop's fables was not children. Aesop's fables were for everyone; they were lessons for the whole populace of Greece. We must remember that Greece was an oral culture and most of the population was illiterate. Aesop's fables were for them. But his fables were also for the academy. In ancient Greek and Roman education, the fable was the first of the progymnasmata—training exercises in prose composition and public speaking—wherein students would be asked to learn fables, expand upon them, invent their own, and finally use them as persuasive examples in longer forensic or deliberative speeches. The need of instructors to teach, and students to learn, a wide range of fables as material for their declamations resulted in their being gathered together in collections, like those of Aesop.
The earliest mentioned collection was by Demetrius of Phalerum, an Athenian orator and statesman of the 4th century BCE, who compiled the fables into a set of ten books for the use of orators. The first extensive translation of Aesop into Latin iambic trimeters was done by Phaedrus, a freedman of Caesar Augustus in the 1st century CE, although at least one fable had already been translated by the poet Ennius two centuries earlier and others are referred to in the work of Horace. The rhetorician Aphthonius of Antioch, wrote a treatise on, and converted into Latin prose, some forty of these fables in 315. The rhetoricians and philosophers were accustomed to give Aesopica as an exercise to their scholars, not only inviting them to discuss the moral of the tale, but also to practice and to perfect themselves thereby in style and rules of grammar by making new versions of their own.
One problem with our Greek introduction to Aesop is, they treat him as an individual and he is personally credited with the creation of his stories, rather than him being seen as a part of a tradition, an Afrikan tradition that goes back as far as the San and Mbuti. We now know that many of his stories or fables have since been found on Kemetic papyri known to date between 800 and 1000 years before Aesop's time. This clearly indicates Aesop's Afrikan and perhaps even Kemetic heritage. Aesop was a master storyteller, and this is part of the Afrikan tradition. His use of animals, their personalities, combined with Nature, was totally unknown in the Greek world.
So here we see Afrikan thought influencing the Greeks again. The Afrikan influence on Greek thought was great. They would become our wayward offspring. When will the West stop trying to make us disappear and give credit where credit is due. And when will we embrace our worldview and culture and get this 800-lb gorilla off our backs.
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