Aesopus
a Greek historian.
The time when Aesopus lived is uncertain, and even his existence has been doubted. (Barth, Adversar. 2.10.) Mai, in the preface to his edition, contended that the work was written before 389, A. D., because the temple of Serapis at Alexandria, which was destroyed by order of Theodosius, is spoken of in the translation (Jul. Valer. 1.31) as still standing. But serious objections to this inference have been raised by Letronno (Journ. des Sarans, 1818, p. 617), who refers it to the seventh or eighth century, which the weight of internal evidence would rather point to. The book is full of the most extravagant stories and glaring mistakes, and is a work of no credit.
Works
Life of Alexander the Great
He wrote a life of Alexander the Great.
The original is lost, but there is a Latin translation of it by Julius Valerius [VALERIUS JULIUS], of which Franciscus Juretus had, he says (ad symmach. Ep. 10.54), a manuscript.
Editions
It was first published, however, by A. Mai from a MS. in the Ambrosian library, Milan, 1817, 4to., reprinted Frankfort, 1818, 8vo. The title is Itinerarium ad Constantinum Augustum, etc.: accedunt Julii Valerii Res gestae Alexandri Macedonis, etc.
From William Smith (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Text provided under a CC BY-SA license by Perseus Digital Library, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Tufts University. Data accessed from https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-pdlrefwk/ on 17 October 2026.