Most Influential Civilization?

[tarheel91]

Rath said:

tarheel91 said:

Rath said:

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.

We're talking about influence here, not importance.

Can you explain what you mean please?

The Romans are undeniably one of the most important civilizations in history.  However, that does not make them one of the most influential.  You yourself describe them as taking Greek culture and spreading it.  THEY are not influencing anyone.  The Greeks are.  The messenger has no influence over the message he delivers.

@Akvod: Err, not really.  The period following the fall of the Roman Empire isn't called the Dark Ages because the sun was blocked out or anything.  It was a period of chaos and insecurity.  There are very few historical records from the time, and a lot of knowledge was lost.  One of the themes of the Renaissance is rediscovering classical culture.  That's not to say nothing survived, but a lot of Medieval culture is due more to Germanic culture than anything else.  Even Catholicism, which might be one thing you could mostly attribute to the Romans, was heavily twisted depending on the location, and frequently more closesly resembled the pagan belief system of the area than any form of Christianity.