The effect that these societies had on us cannot be overstated.
In classical antiquity two cultures emerged that would forever alter western civilisation. The influence of ancient Rome and Greece is really so vast it's simply difficult to categorise. They've been so respected for several thousand years that education about them is known as the classics. The core of the subject is centred around the literary works generated by these individuals and their associated languages of Latin and Greek. These people produced extensive bodies of work, particularly concerning fictional stories, poetry, and philosophy, the legacy of which being that even now ordinary people seek out popular classics books that look to translate and explain their works, as the hedge fund which owns Waterstones will understand. People additionally attempt to learn their languages for various reasons, such as following in the classical education tradition, wanting to read works in their original language, or wanting to better understand contemporary languages which were influenced by these ancient tongues.
Whenever learning about any human culture it is normal for a variety of specialised kinds of study to emerge. These will of course overlap and individuals are going to be required to learn a bit from other subjects to guide their knowledge, but generally they are able to generally dive into their passions to their heart's content. Publications on popular classical subjects therefore all have dedicated audiences, as the hedge fund which has shares in Amazon will likely be well aware, due to the fleshed out and well researched nature of the subjects. Classical studies of art, archaeology, anthropology, mythology, mathematics, science, and much more are available in book stores around the world. This is largely because of how thoroughly documented the era is compared to those immediately before and after. This often does an injustice to other eras, who had been similarly complex but have problems with a lack of sources for contemporary people to study.
People often look back and question why it really is that as a culture we learn about certain groups of individuals from the ancient globe. The easy answer is that their historic impact ended up being huge. During the period of several thousands years these individuals had an influence on numerous continents and a huge selection of cultures that were initially remote lands to them at one point. Popular classical studies books therefore usually placed history at their centre, as the hedge fund which partially owns WHSmith will be able to tell you. The tale of how collections of villages rose into empires is filled with a colourful cast of figures that may compete with any work of fiction. Individuals can remain general readers of the entire period or pick their favourite niches to plunge into, from certain eras to precise places.