To conclude, it is not obvious to say that he was literate/illiterate. He was likely able to read/write a little bit (barely), but not extremely literate in any case

The Death and Burial of Hector (selections from Iliad 22 and 24

Ancient Mediterranean peoples did tell stories of miraculous conceptions and births. There were accounts, set in the mythic past, of individuals born to a di vine mother and a human father, for example, Achilles (son of the divine Thetis and the human Peleus—Iliad 20.206–7; 24.59), Aeneas (son of Aphrodite and the mortal Anchises—Iliad 2.819–22; 5.247–48;…

There are some fascinating discussions of similarities between biblical and Hittite material concerning some rituals and concepts/practices regarding purity. Feder in Blood Expiation in the Hebrew Bible notably argues for a connection between the Hittite zurki rite and the biblical Ḥaṭṭaʾt/”sin offering”. Finally, some scholars argue for an influence of Hittite treaties on the structure…

Article Many factors have contributed to the renewed interest in Greco-Roman culture’s relevance for New Testament scholarship. At the turn of the last century, with the discovery of the documentary papyri in Egypt and their application to the New Testament in the work of scholars like Adolf Deiss mann (A. Deissmann, Bible Studies: Contributions, Chiely…

Classics and the Bible: Hospitality and Recognition (A&C Black, 2007), John Taylor:In Bacchae the god of the theatre appears as a character in a play performed there. Dionysus has come to Thebes disguised as a priest of his own cult. He brings a new form of worship from the east, but his origins lie in…

“Christianity arose from an already Hellenized Jewish mother. By the time of Jesus, Palestinian Jews had adopted and adapted Greek ideas to such an extent that in many cases concepts that appeared distinctly “Jewish” were actually “Greek-Jewish” cultural hybrids.” Just as Jesus calmed the winds, the Dioscuri, sons of Zeus, one of the Mediterranean gods,…

Especially the word “testament” used: A governor crucifying some thieves, a soldier being placed in the grave so that no one could steal the body, the crucified bodies disappearing. “The missing body illustrates that the absent corpse is now a god or godlike with or without explicit explanation.” The works of Robyn Faith Walsh, who…