Most Influential Civilization?

[Rath]

ManusJustus said:

Greek civilzation influenced the Romans, so Greeks should most of the credit for Western Civilization and Western ideals (democracy, language, monogamy, and so forth).

Other than the obvious Middle Eastern Empires (Egypt, Babylon), we should also consider Chinese and Indian civilizations. They made huge contributions to civilization, from gunpowder to mathematics, but if you live in the West you probably didn't cover that much in school, so you think they weren't as important.

But the Romans took the Greek philosophy (by brute force as it happens) and spread it, essentially creating todays developed world. The developed world today is essentially based on where the romans conquered and where those countries managed to outnumber the natives (ie. America, Australia, New Zealand).

The ideals of Western civilization came from the Greeks, but without the Romans it would never have spread.