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A Samian or Sardian, though Eugeiton[1] said that he was a Mesembrian,[2] and others [call him] a Phrygian from Kotiaiaon. He became a logopoios, which is an inventor of stories and responses. Being welcomed at [the palace of] Croesus he spent time there, in the era before Pythagoras; the midpoint of his life was the 40th Olympiad.[3] He wrote about the things which happened to him at Delphi in 2 books. But some say, rather, that Aesop has only written responses. For [they say that] he perished unjustly in Delphi having been thrown off a precipice from the rocks called the Phaidriades[4] in the 54th Olympiad.[5] [Some say that] Aesop became the slave of Xanthus the Lydian, while others say [that he became the slave] of a certain Samian, Iadmon, who also had a female slave Rhodopis; Charaxos the brother of Sappho took her, a Thracian by race, as his wife after she had spent time as a hetaira, and he had children by her.[6]

Αἴσωπος, Σάμιος ἢ Σαρδιανός, Εὐγείτων δὲ Μεσημβριανὸς εἰ̂πεν, ἄλλοι Κοτυαέα Φρύγα. ἐγένετο δὲ λογοποιός, ὅ ἐστιν εὑρετὴς λόγων καὶ ἀποκριμάτων. διέτριψε δὲ παρὰ Κροίσῳ φιλούμενος, τοι̂ς χρόνοις πρὸ Πυθαγόρου: ὃς μεσου̂ν ἐπὶ τη̂ς μ# ̓Ολυμπιάδος. ἔγραψε τὰ ἐν Δελφοι̂ς αὐτῳ̂ συμβάντα ἐν βιβλίοις β#. μα̂λλον δέ τινές φασι τὸν Αἴσωπον ἀποκρίματα γεγραφέναι μόνον. ἐν γὰρ Δελφοι̂ς ἀδίκως ἀπολέσθαι ὑπ' αὐτω̂ν κατακρημνισθέντα ἀπὸ τω̂ν Φαιδριάδων καλουμένων πετρω̂ν κατὰ τὴν νδ# ̓Ολυμπιάδα. οἰκέτην δὲ γενέσθαι Ξάνθου του̂ Λυδου̂, ἄλλοι ἀνδρός τινος Σαμίου ̓Ιάδμονος, οὑ̂τινος καὶ ἡ ̔Ροδω̂πις δούλη ἠ̂ν: ἣν ἑταίραν γενομένην, Θρᾳ̂σσαν τὸ γένος, Χάραξος ὁ ἀδελφὸς Σαπφου̂ς ἔλαβε γυναι̂κα καὶ ἐξ αὐτη̂ς γεννᾳ̂.

See also alphaiota 332, alphaiota 335, and generally OCD(4) s.v. (p.28). For the present material cf. Herodotus 2.134.3-4 and the scholia to Aristophanes, Birds 471 (where he is mentioned).
[1] Actually Euagon of Samos: FGrH 535 F3.
[2] Here, ungrammatically, in the nominative. Mesembria is present-day Nesebur in Bulgaria.
[3] 620-617.
[4] cf. phi 156.
[5] 564-561.
[6] cf. iota 4, xi 9, rho 211, chi 99.

David Whitehead (modified translation; added notes; augmented keywords) on 9 March 2003@05:16:44.
David Whitehead (added more x-refs) on 9 March 2003@05:19:52.
David Whitehead (tweaked tr; cosmetics) on 10 May 2006@03:10:02.
David Whitehead (more keywords; cosmetics) on 17 May 2012@04:50:43.
David Whitehead (updated a ref) on 1 August 2014@04:46:18.
David Whitehead on 30 November 2015@08:32:23.

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