British law is actually the basis of say the Australian and US law, it used certain parts fom roman law, but UK law was much more global etc.

USA has impact on politics, but that really only started happening in the early 20th century. Britain has had an impact for hundreds of years prior too.

Also i think the fact Britain started the industrial revolution influences me in saying they were the most influential society, as this led to ttodays consumers product led society and globalisation up to a point.

Of course we all know everyone has an opinion and so people may agree/disagree

Agreed.  However, again, we're talking about influence, not importance.  The two concepts are very distinct.  Your use of the word influence in your example is just terrible.  You can't just substitute influence for any old verb (in this case, killed).

Rath admits that the ideals of Western civilization came from the Greeks.  THAT is influence.  THEIR ideas are the ones that influence us today.  The Romans spreading those ideas is very important, but it doesn't magically mean they're the ones influencing Western cultures with those beliefs.  It's still the Greeks beliefs that are influencing cultures.  I guess you could argue that the Romans basically decided that Greek beliefs were best, and then imposed that decision on Western culture, but it's still the Greeks who influenced the Romans who influenced everyone, so my point still stands even if you look at it from that perspective.

Now I'm not one who underrates the Greek. I'm borderline putting them first before the Romans.

I understand what you mean, but I think we define influence differently. I may be wrong, but in my book influence simply means that something affects something else. It could be an idea, it could be a physical action. Both bear weight, and that's why it's so hard at least for me to decide if the Greeks or the Romans were the most influential.

I don't think either are. :P  I think the Chinese were the most influential civilization by a longshot.

This argument has to do with Western culture and who's influence that is due to (look at the originally quoted post).  It doesn't have to do with influence in general.  Politically, the Romans influenced the Western world plenty, and it did have some inventions of its own.  However, Western culture is due far more to the influence of the Greeks than the Romans.  That is my point.

Well british law has things that come from roman right, and USA, France and Britain are influence for modern constitutions and liberal democracies. The whole idea of constitutional supremacy comes from the US.

It really isnt important to establish who is the most influential as to know how they influenced and why, so I agree people can have different opinnions, but anyway Id trace most western way of thinking to the greeks and the important spread of these to the romans with each civilization helping after.

i still say industrial revolution/ end thread :P

But again everyone has their own opinion

Although one can go on and on about the moral consequences of some civilizations' influences, the thread is only about who had the most influence: morality is technically outside the scope of this discussion.

I tend to consider some of the listed civilizations, influence-wise, as continuations of their predecessors, particularly in terms of Greece/Rome and UK/US. But in terms of influence on the current state of the world in forms that those civilizations might still recognize, I would consider it a toss-up between three: Anglo-American, Greco-Roman, and Chinese. It is true that Islamic dynasties have also had some influence, but many of the forms those influences took have been altered to the point where they're no longer recognizable unless you really dig deep. Case in point: it's thought that common law as used in most English-speaking countries (as opposed to civil law, popular in countries with a stronger Roman influence) was heavily influenced by Islamic law, but few people on either side of the equation actually know this.