True as well, but recall that Greek civilization derives substantially from the Sumerian (which arose in the so-called “cradle of civilization” in the fertile crescent between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers- home of modern Iraq), and - to a lesser extent - from the Egyptian.

That other pillar of Western Civilization, The Roman, derives substantially from the Greek. As it turns out, much of the continuity of this line of cultural flowering in the West, was stunted, severed, and uprooted by the various “barbarian” invasions, one of which culminated in the sacking of Rome by the Vandals in 455 - the beginning of the Dark Ages.

The respository of Western civilization was moved from Rome to Constantinople (ancient Byzantium, modern-day Instanbul) by the Emperor Diocletian in the 3rd centry AD where it endured until it was conquered by the Ottoman Turks in mid-15th century AD.

sp