“Scholars of classical antiquity have argued that ancient literary composition was essentially an oral process based on one’s memory rather than on piles of written notes. What was composed orally was subsequently dictated to a scribe who was the actual writer of the text. Once the author had “published” his work by allowing its reproduction by booksellers and friends, he had lost all influence on its further development. Since no copyright laws existed, the author had no protection against the introduction of changes into his text. In fact, not one authoritative version but many more or less identical versions of each text circulated in antiquity…
The accuracy of the remembered was not particularly important to the authors. Without stenographers or tape recorders accuracy was also impossible to achieve. The gist of what had been said or heard or read was more relevant that the repetition of verbatim statements. Quotations were usually not checked. Ancient authors such as Plutarch streamlined, compressed, and dislocated the material, conflated similar items, and even invented additional examples to support an argument.”
— Catherine Hezser, Jewish Literacy in Roman Palestine
(Tuebingen: Mohr-Siebeck, 2001) pp.422-424.
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