Let's take a very quick peek into the actual order of events. Sure, Greece has adopted the old philosophers like Pythagoras, Plato and Aristotle. But all, and I mean every notable Greek philosopher spent 10-15 years in Egypt, Alexandria mainly, to get their tuition.
Egyptian SciencePriest didn't claim ownership of their insights and writings. They referred to the First Time, Zep Tepi, when Gods walked among men and brought all the wisdom to Egypt.
According to Plato, an Egyptian priest told Solon that Atlantean civilization was the root of all civilizations. After Atlantis sunk some 10 600 years ago (according to Plato) its residents emigrated, fanning out to all known worlds.
In any case, the origins of western civilizations are not from Greece, and most definitely not from Rome.
When Rome fell, so did any and all pursuits to gain understanding of the world, universe and everything. Including mankind. Christian church took care of all remaining books, writings and individuals. All were burn. European literacy dropped from nearly 60% in the year 300 AD, to near zero by 500 AD.
500 - 1000 AD is called the dark ages for a reason. During that time nations vanished, replaced by villages of around 50 inhabitants. People travelled 30 km from their birthplace on average. No need to read, because trying to survive pretty much took all waking hours.
But around 1100 Renaissance began. What happened? What changed?
As we saw, civilization was not born in Europe, it was transplanted there. When christianity happened, it was easily snuffed out.
But in 1085 Moors, an old nation and civilization exited Córdoban Caliphate (modern Toledo), leaving it to Christian troops. It was a smallish outpost in Moorish standards, but like all Moorish cities, it had a library. A modest one, but still it was more information that existed in all of Europe at that time.
So, thanks to Islamic scholars, Western world was reintroduced to Greek civilization. Ever wondered in your history classes what was the reason that Italians and French were so enthused by 1000 year old science? I sure did. The simple reason was that it was the pinnacle of understanding in science and philosophy at that time. We were trailing Asia, South America, Middle East and India by 5000 to 2000 years, depending on culture. Thanks to Papal policy of banning all non-biblical studies and all studies outside the priesthood.
That was also probably the reason why Europeans were so "successful" in colonising the rest of the world. Nobody could imagine that kind of brutality. Standing armies of thousands were obsolete. Occupational land-grabs were small and far between. Such behavior by nation-states, let alone whole continents, was totally unheard of.
Colonialism and slavery that followed, built untenable economic structures. That can be seen very clearly from the sorry state that USA is in.
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