Why Know the Difference?

Why does anybody need to know the difference between Homer‘s Iliad and Virgil’s Aeneid? What’s the point? What is the value in that?
The Classics teach us about the great challenges of what it means to be human. They are an insight into the origins of humanity and enable students to make sense of our present situation.
They are a source of wisdom that has survived the ages.
 The Classics teach us about growing up, learning from adversity, perseverance, and how to live when we are often at the mercy of forces larger than ourselves.
Both Achilles (Odysseus is the hero of the Odyssey, Achilles of the Iliad) and Aeneas show us that loyalty, courage, responsibility and discernment are not just valuable, but rather lifesaving virtues.
To know them, two of the world’s first authors from two different perspectives, Greek and Roman, defining the times in which they lived, is to see that literature is a continuous story with Homer and Virgil as the first chapters which all others follow.
Students deserve an enriched and varied curriculum, one which allows their depth of understanding to increase. Most books of substance are inherently intertextual and honor those that came before and illuminate those that have come after.
The study of the Classics enables students to navigate the question which all people have ardently considered through the ages and it is no less important now – How did I get here and where am I going? At Trinity Classical Academy that is a conversation we relish having.
And at the very least, you’ll know who Homer Simpson was named after. You can impress your friends.
For more information about classical, Christian education, contact Trinity Classical Academy at (661) 296-2601 or visit www.TrinityClassicalAcademy.com.