Many years ago whilst taking a foundation course at school on politics our teacher said of Aristotle that here was a man who could walk into the physics labs at school and do the four years work we were taught in one term (approximately three months). Not only is that an impressive assumption it is also a demonstrations of how close the minds of past generations are to our own. That they did not have the science we have is only an accident of history as many of the fundamental ideas that kick started Western science actually had their foundation in 6th century BCE Greek islands.
The idea that ancient thinkers are our equals is not readily accepted, not the least because the young always think they are the first to have discovered the world. Yet it is to the ancients that we look for the wisdom of all the largest religions in the world. That the wisdom of how people should treat people and how people should treat nature has never altered. ‘With respect’. The Code of Hammurabi though brutal to our eyes, talks about punishment and lists wrongs as treachery, theft, murder etc.
The reality is that for ten thousand years the core values of the human race have not altered. They have matured with population density, but the needs of communities have been constant. So never dismiss words written thousands of years ago or more. In thousands of years time they will remain the same and still be relevant, if we are.