[RobbyS]

Homer and Hesiod were the heart of a classical education, as you can gather by reading the Christian work, "The city of God," there was a comprehensive world view that Christianity had to contend against.

[CarrotAndStick]

Yes, but Homer and Hesiod, and others, were never as popular in Greek/Roman society as Hindu epics were, and still is, in India. Besides. the Hindu body of literature will easily dwarf the Greek body.

[CarrotAndStick]

And Indian philosophy spread far and wide, from India to East and SE Asia. And even to the Roman Empire itself, if you include Mithraism.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mithraism

[CarrotAndStick]

Mitra
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Relief from Taq-i Bostan in Kermanshah, Iran, showing Ardashir II of Sassanid empire at the center receiving his crown from Ahura Mazda. The two stand on a prostrate enemy. Here at the left is Mithra as a priest, wearing a crown of sun-rays, holding a priest's barsam, and standing on a sacred lotus.Mitra or Mithra or Mithras is an important deity of Persian and Indic culture; he appears in the Vedas as one of the Adityas, a solar deity and the god of honesty, friendship, contracts and meetings. In Persian civilization, where his name was rendered as Mithra, he later came into increased prominence as a major deity of Zoroastrianism. He can be identified with a proto-Indo-Persian deity whose name can be reconstructed as *Mitra.

In both cultures, he is distinguished by his close relationship with the god who rules over the asuras (Persian ahuras) and protects rta (Persian asha): Varuna in India and Ahura Mazda in Persia.

Mithra was believed to have been the son of God (Ahura Mazda). According to Persian tradition, Ahura Mazda sent his son Mithra to defend humanity from evil and from the Adversary, Ahriman. Aside from that, the mythology and lore surrounding Mithra is very similar to that surrounding Jesus and other aspects of Christianity. For example Mithra was believed to have been born on the 25th of December, was conceived by Ahura Mazda and his virgin mother Anahita. (See Mithraism's Parallels to Christianity for a detailed comparison.)

Mithraism entered Europe after the conquests of Alexander the Great and spread rapidly throughout the Roman Empire in later years. The Hellenistic and Roman god Mithras, worshipped by male initiates from the 1st century BC to the 5th century AD, combined the Persian Mithra with other Persian and perhaps Anatolian deities in a syncretic cult.

Etymology and Origins
The Indo-Persian word *mitra- could have two meanings:

covenant, compact, oath, or treaty
friend
A general meaning of "alliance" might adequately explain both alternatives. The second sense tends to be emphasized in Indic sources, the first sense in Persian.

The earliest known occurrence of the name Mitra is in a treaty inscription, ca 1400 BCE, established between the Hittites and the Hurrian kingdom of the Mitanni in the area southeast of Lake Van. The treaty is guaranteed by five Indo-Persian gods: Indra, Mitra, Varuna and the twin horsemen, the Ashvins or Nasatya. The Hurrians, it appears, were being led by an aristocratic warrior caste worshipping these gods.

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Mitra in the Vedas
In the Vedic hymns, Mitra is always invoked together with Varuna, so that the two are combined as 'Mitravaruna': Varuna is lord of the cosmic rhythm of the celestial spheres, while Mitra brings forth the light at dawn, which was covered by Varuna.

In the Shatapatha Brahmana, the Paired One is analyzed as "the Counsel and the Power" — Mitra being the priesthood, Varuna the royal power. As Joseph Campbell remarked, "Both are said to have a thousand eyes. Both are active foreground aspects of the light or solar force at play in time. Both renew the world by their deed."