Popular Biography

Abstract

Ancient popular biographies are distinguished by a set of common characteristics: primacy of content over form, simple one-dimensional characterization, a non-organic accumulative structure, circulation in variant versions, wide appeal across space and time, and heavy dependence on oral storytelling materials. The various traditions regarding the Seven Sages current in classical Greece were a form of collective popular oral biography of this group and influenced later biographical compositions significantly. The protagonists of these stories are often shown in roles typically found in the folktale repertoire. The Life of Aesop is an exemplary representative of popular biography. It combines old legends about Aesop, anecdotes borrowed from other cultural traditions, pieces of wisdom literature, and widespread folktales. It incorporates many specimens of folk genres (fables, scabrous novellas, proverbs, riddles) and reproduces the structure of Aesopic fables on a magnified scale. Other biographical compositions containing such popular elements (Life of Secundus, Alexander Romance, Lives of Homer) are also briefly discussed.