Only two people in East Mediterranean antiquity developed [parallel tendecies towards] "canonical" Scripture: the Greeks and the Jews. The Greeks treated Homer as their Scripture par excellence, much as the Jews regarded the Bible.... Hebrew and pagan Greek scriptures were each considered the divinely inspired guide for life.

Footnote: Strictly speaking, "canonical" is not quite exact for the Greeks; and anachronistic even for the Jews... - The Common Background of Greek and Hebrew Civilizations (1965 [1962])