The first study to focus on the numerous ancient Greek fables occurring outside (and predating) the extant fable collections.
Divided into three parts, its core is an intertextual analysis of the functions of fables and their allusions. Here the author covers many different authors and a variety of genres in Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic Greek Literature, ranging from lyric to historiography, from Aristotle to Hesiod and from Agamemnon to Zopyrus.
This analysis is based on a study of both modern and ancient fable theory - the latter having hitherto never been studied in toto, and incorporating the Graeco-Roman terminology of the genre.
The book's third part is a collection of all texts (and contexts) studied, which greatly facilitates cross-referencing.