Some people mistakenly believe that since we do not have direct access to the distant past we cannot learn much about it  Contemporary historians and archaeologists find current geography, geology, and climate to be rich in clues about a given region' s distant history
However, the more distant the period we are studying is, the less useful the study of the present becomes
To understand a literary text one needs to understand the author's world view. However, the farther that world view gets from one's own the less one will be able to appreciate the text.