i first thought it is by birth/or death date. some relation to "now" might make this more interesting, like the astronomy picture of the day. if there are two on the same day they could simply be shifted.
if your article is truly timeless, having a date on it will not change that.
I automatically rank content without source/time aspect lower than information with a proper context and that includes a date when it was created/thought about/written.
context is important and should be part of your content.
... and we will keep your money anyway. nice.