Babrius the Fabulist (Βάβριος ὁ μυθολόγος) was a Greek author of the 2nd century CE. His life is obscure, but internal evidence suggests a connection to a Hellenistic royal court, as he dedicated his work to a "Branchus," possibly the son of a king Alexander [1][2]. He may have been a Hellenized Roman, though this remains conjecture [1].

His major work is the Mythiamboi, a two-book collection of approximately 144 Aesopic fables composed in choliambic verse. These fables adapt the traditional prose corpus into a distinctive poetic form, though the surviving text is fragmentary [1][2][3].

Babrius holds significance as the earliest known versifier of Aesopic fables in Greek, marking a key stage in the tradition's literary adaptation. His work was influential for later writers like Avianus and was rediscovered in the 19th century via a manuscript from Mount Athos, which preserved his vivid, colloquial poetic style [1][2][3].

Sources 1. Encyclopædia Britannica: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Babrius 2. Perseus Digital Library (Smith's Dictionary): https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aentry%3Dbabrius-bio 3. World History Encyclopedia: https://www.worldhistory.org/Babrius/