It appears that fable was not recognised as a distinct literary genre in antiquity although it did exist in a recognisable form. This unique `introduction' to the history of the fable looks at both literary form and structure, and at generic history through the works of Greek and Roman authors and those fabulists who re-shaped the material of their predecessors to form new fables. Among the fables discussed are the books of Phaedrus (1st century AD), Babrius (3rd century AD), Avianus (4th-5th century AD), and the Aesopic tradition. Translated from the German.