[TFNA]

Only in the beginning, in the wake of the Greek Bronze Age dark age, was Homeric epic an improvised oral tradition that could be tailored to a listening audience’s preferences. By fifth-century Athens, writers depict the text as already definite, composed by one guy named Homer (instead of a long series of anonymous bards). Greeks may still have been learning and passing on Homer orally, but it was as a text that one received and was expected to relay onward faithfully.

[efavdb]

Alexander the Great (died 323 bc) famously kept a copy of the Iliad under his pillow.

[WalterBright]

That's how I learned Calculus.

[themaninthedark]

By keeping a copy of the Iliad under your pillow?

[goodmythical]

Because alexander the great kept a copy of the illiad under his pillow