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book: Ancient Fables and Literary Genres
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Ancient Fables and Literary Genres

Texts, Contexts, Interactions
  • Edited by: Ursula Gärtner and Lukas Spielhofer
  • Funded by: Universitätsbibliothek Universität Graz
Language: English
Published/Copyright: 2026
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About this book

Ancient fables have come down to us in many forms: They were published as fable collections both in prose and verse or embedded in literary works of other genres. The contributions to this volume shed light on the interaction between fables and these literary genres and give an overview of fables from early Greek to medieval literature. They seek to ask what role fables play in individual genres, and which genres in turn find an echo in fables.

In the case of fables embedded in other genres, the contributions ask as to which fables are chosen for which theme or genre and how they relate to it, how fables are adapted in other texts, how these embeddings are marked at a textual level, and what purpose they serve. In the case of other genres influencing fable collections, the volume illustrates how fables deal with the question of genre more generally but also with specific works or authors, how they approximate and, at the same time, distinguish themselves from these influences, what the aim of this approximation might be and through which means references to genres are made.

The 21 contributions by internationally renowned fable scholars provide, for the first time, an overview of the interaction of fables and other genres.

Author / Editor information

Ursula Gärtner, University of Graz, Austria; Lukas Spielhofer, University of Heidelberg, Germany.

Topics

Frontmatter

Open Access Download PDF 		I
Preface

Open Access Download PDF 		V
Contents

Open Access Download PDF 		VII
In cothurnis prodit Aesopus nouis: Ancient Fable and the Literary Genres

Ursula Gärtner and Lukas Spielhofer
Open Access Download PDF 		1
Part I: Fable and Epic
Hesiod’s Fable of “The Hawk and the Nightingale” (Op. 202–212)

Bruno Currie
Open Access Download PDF 		19
Taming the Lion/Feeding the Beast: Homeric Fables and the Ethics of Epic

Keating P. J. McKeon
Open Access Download PDF 		45
Part II: Fable and Elegy
The Fables of Avianus: Intersection of Genres and Textual Criticism

Giovanni Zago
Open Access Download PDF 		67
Peruigil ante fores, irrita uota gerens: Avianus’ Fables and Roman Love Elegy

Christopher Poms
Open Access Download PDF 		81
Part III: Fable and Comedy
Not For Beetle Brains: Fables in Aristophanes

Babette Pütz
Open Access Download PDF 		101
Comedy in Phaedrus’ Fables: seruus, meretrix, anus, iuuenis, miles in fabula

Ursula Gärtner
Open Access Download PDF 		117
Phaedrus and the Latin Mime: Preliminary Remarks

Caterina Mordeglia
Open Access Download PDF 		143
Part IV: Fable and Prose Genres
Clever Creatures: How Phaedrus Parallels Natural History in His Fables

Hedwig Schmalzgruber
Open Access Download PDF 		157
The Ideal Philosopher as “Fabulator”: Socratic-Platonic Variations on Aesop in the Phaedo

Claudia Luchetti
Open Access Download PDF 		181
From λόγος to μῦθος: Babrius’ Fabulous Poetics

Vittorio Bottini
Open Access Download PDF 		203
The Use of Animal Fable in Ancient Oratory: Reality or Fiction?

Damian Pierzak
Open Access Download PDF 		229
Nemo aliquid ualet sine suis: Classical and Medieval Latin Versions of “The Belly and the Members” across Literary Genres

Simona Martorana
Open Access Download PDF 		249
Part V: Fable and Ancient Novel
Crossings between Fable and Novel: Some Examples from Phaedrus and Apuleius

Silvia Mattiacci
Open Access Download PDF 		269
Part VI: Fable and Epigram
Of Lions and Eunuchs: The Fables of Babrius between Epic and Epigram

Lukas Spielhofer
Open Access Download PDF 		299
Epigrammatic Elements in the Fables of Avianus

Margot Neger
Open Access Download PDF 		327
Between Babrius and Ignatios, between Fable and Metaphrasis: Rephrasing in Byzantine Dodecasyllables

Federica Scognamiglio
Open Access Download PDF 		349
Part VII: Fable and Christian Genres
St. Gregory of Nazianzus and Fables: Between Epistles and Epigrams

Maria P. Christodoulou
Open Access Download PDF 		371
“And Jesus Told Them a Fable”: On Methods and Motivations for Embedding Fables in the Gospels

Justin David Strong
Open Access Download PDF 		389
The Role of Animals in the Acta Thomae

Montserrat Camps-Gaset
Open Access Download PDF 		415
List of Contributors

Open Access Download PDF 		435
Index of Passages

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General Index

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Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
December 4, 2025
eBook ISBN:
9783111181936
Hardcover published on:
December 4, 2025
Hardcover ISBN:
9783111179889
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
Front matter:
9
Main content:
458
Illustrations:
1
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111181936
eBook ISBN: 9783111181936
Hardcover ISBN: 9783111179889
Keywords for this book
Fables of Aesop; Ancient Greek; Latin; Phaedrus
Audience(s) for this book
Literary studies scholars, Classical philologists, Fables studies scholars, students of Classics
Creative Commons
BY-NC-ND 4.0
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