AESOP probably lived in the middle part of the sixth century BC. A statement in Herodotus gives grounds for thinking that he was a slave.Simon Goldhill (introducer) is Professor of Greek at Cambridge University and a Fellow of King's College where he is Director of Studies in Classics. He has published widely on many aspects of Greek literature, especially tragedy. He is in great demand as a lecturer all over the world, and is a frequent broadcaster on radio and television on classical matters.Shomit Dutta (editor) was educated at University College Oxford, and King's College London, and has taught classics at Radley College and Harrow School, and Oxford. He is also a freelance arts reviewer, and has published a translation of Sophocles' Ajax (Cambridge).