I see where you're coming from, but poems, plays, and sculpture are "the fruits of the ancient world." A work like the Iliad only comes around once every few millennia, and no synopsis will frame its ideas so starkly.

The Iliad and The Odyssey are two of the most thrilling pieces of literature available to a reader today, and they both pose difficult moral questions. I just can't imagine a sociology textbook writer formulating a "What do you think: Glory, or Contentedness?" segment as compelling as the entire arc of Achilles' role in the battle for Troy.

So yes, the lessons of the ancient world are applicable to a broad range of subjects, but the art is also valuable in and of itself.