Homer's Illiad or Valmiki's Ramayana?????

Along the same lines as my last blog, I want to talk about cross cultural literary influence. Recently, one of my friend came to me and told me the story of Homer's Illiad. I was star-stuck. I felt I've heard this entire story somewhere. As she moved on I felt that this entire story is DITTO like Ramayana. The primary characters have same qualities, just the names are different. So, this shows that the literary texts of different cultures do inter-relate. Another such example is Plato's Republic, Machiavalli's Prince and Bhagwad Geeta. All three written in different time periods. But, all three narrating the same facts and arguments. The message I want to convey is that we need to break the walls and see beyond them. We need to read other cultural works as well. Because learning is a never ending process and wherever and whatever you gain, knowledge will never go waste.