When were Aesop's first fables written?

Aesop's first fables were told as stories in Greece as early as 620 B.C. and were written down and referenced by Greek authors by the fourth century. Fables that have been attributed to Aesop may have earlier origins from non-Greek sources.

Greek writers, such as Herodotus and Plato, reference Aesop and describe him as a Greek slave from the fifth century. Many of the fables attributed to Aesop may have instead been popular Greek fables of the time without any other known author. Due to parallels for many of Aesop's fables in Indian writings, historians debate whether the actual origins of the fables attributed to Aesop are Greek or Indian.