Who Wrote the Original “Cinderella” Story?

Joe Penniston/CC-BY-2.0

The most popular version of Cinderella was written by Charles Perrault in his “Histoires ou contes du temps passé” in 1697. The original or first Cinderella story is thought to be “Rhodopis,” which is an Egyptian tale recorded by Strabo, a Greek historian in the first century.

“Rhodopis and Her Little Gilded Sandals” is the story of an Egyptian slave girl who marries the king. Similar to a story written by Herodotus 500 years before Strabo, Rhodopis is considered to be loosely based on a real person during Herodotus’ time. In the 19th century, she was known as an Egyptian Cinderella.

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