Like performing bards down through the ages, he relied on repeated images pad the meter and reduce the sheer amount of memorization. A modern scholar (not even a clue who it was at this point) memorized the Iliad and could recite the whole thing (in Greek? English? dunno that either) except for the catalog of ships, but he said he could relearn that at any time. That’s strictly an historically useful bit of the text, but doesn’t have much mnemonic formula.
Sidebar — One scholar of Homer teased that the poet’s use of “rosy-fingered dawn” could, due to the contextual nature of ancient Greek, be just as easily translated as “pink-toed dawn”. :^)
The Associated Press
AMHERST, Mass. _ Retirement brought Stephen Powelson lots of spare time. Perhaps too much: He decided to memorize Homer's "Iliad."
All 600 pages, two volumes, 15,693 lines and more than 200,000 syllables, by his count.
In the ancient Greek.
For 16 years, he has spent about an hour a day _ 5,840 hours in all _ intoning the classic poem. So far, he knows 14,800 lines by heart.
And this is a man whose wife says can't find his glasses or car keys. How did he do it?
"Will, discipline and a touch of madness," he said. (More at link)
(It does not say if he used a Lyre to assist in his memorization.)
“pink-toed dawn”.
I think that the word for rosey fingered was "Rhododactylos." I sold my Liddell and Scott about 10 years ago so can't check. I suppose Dactyulos would apply to toes too.
(Hum. I do not know if I should be imagining the goddess Eos sliding across the dawn sky feet first!)