Most people associate “Cinderella” with Disney but the tale was actually first conceptualized in ancient Greece. The first recorded Cinderella-like figure is cited in a story from the 6th century BC, when the courtesan Rhodopis had one of her slippers stolen by an eagle, which according to the tale flew it all the way across the Mediterranean into the lap of an Egyptian king.
The king sought far and wide to find the owner of the slipper.
When he found Rhodopis he married her, lifting her from her “common” status to the palace. Through the centuries Cinderella has woven her identity through centuries of storytelling with more than 400 versions of the Cinderella tale in Europe alone.
