By Lisa Moore LaRoe

Generations of students journeyed through the Iliad and the Odyssey as well as works by Plato, Sophocles, Cicero, and other ancient superstars. Knowing the classics, and the Greco-Roman world that produced them, was a sine qua non of education (at least in the West). Is it still?

What can today’s world learn from antiquity?

Read Lisa Moore LaRoe’s reflections on the Iliad and share your thoughts in our forum.

You can also read excerpts of “Ancient Greece” from the December 1999 issue of NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC.

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