This is a real point. When you read something with a modern perspective, you might get a vague or simple sense of what the author was intending, but a deeper a

This is a real point. When you read something with a modern perspective, you might get a vague or simple sense of what the author was intending, but a deeper and richer understanding can be misunderstood, or completely missed. Many simple assumptions in the minds the readers of the time, would be totally lost to us today, unless we reached out and studied. For instance, (to steal from an author I can't remember) - try to imagine a culture in 2000+ years coming across an ancient fragment which reads: "The Dolphins went to the air and pummeled the Lions."