Perry Index

The Perry Index is a widely used index of "Aesop's Fables" or "Aesopica", the fables credited to Aesop, the story-teller who lived in ancient Greece between 620 and 560 BC. Modern scholarship takes the view that Aesop probably did not compose all of the fables attributed to him; indeed, a few are known to have first been used before Aesop lived, while the first record we have of many others is from well over a millennium after his time. Traditionally, Aesop's fables were arranged alphabetically, which is not helpful to the reader. Perry and Rodriguez Adardos separated the Greek fables from the Latin ones, with the Greek ones first; then they arranged each group chronologically and by source; finally they arranged the fables alphabetically within these groups. This system also does not help the casual reader, but is the best for scholarly purposes.

Ben Edwin Perry (1892–1968) was a professor of classics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from 1924 to 1960. He was author of Studies in the Text History of the Life and Fables of Aesop and many other books. His Aesopica ("A Series of Texts Relating to Aesop Or Ascribed to Him Or Closely Connected with the Literal Tradition that Bears His Name") has become the definitive edition of all fables reputed to be by Aesop, with fables arranged by earliest known source. His index of fables has been used as a reference system by later authors.

Perry 1. Eagle and Fox

Perry 2. Eagle, Jackdaw and Shepherd

Perry 3. Eagle and Beetle

Perry 4. Hawk and Nightingale

Perry 5. The Athenian Debtor

Perry 6. The Goatherd and the Wild Goats

Perry 7. Cat as Physician and the Hens

Perry 8. Aesop at the Shipyard

Perry 9. The Fox and the Goat in the Well

Perry 10. Fox and Lion

Perry 11. The Fisherman Pipes to the Fish

Perry 12. Fox and Leopard

Perry 13. The Fisherman

Perry 14. The Ape boasting to the Fox about his Ancestry

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