I studied Latin and drank the koolaid, but recently read a book about early France which seemed to dispute the commonly held view that the Romans introduced everything technology wise. Bridges, roads and communication were certainly high on the list of "had it beforehand". It even has evidence to suggest that they had a sophisticated pre-internet decentralized voice communications network that operated by shouting down relatively quiet valleys. A review at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/1037205...

Western-centric histories also frequently forget the hugely significant contributions of Al-Andalus (Moorish Spain), Persia, India and China. Paper was pretty high up there on the list of civilizing factors, and it sure as hell wasn't Roman or northern European! Lenses came from Assyria. Lots of maths the Romans used came from Greece, and the Greeks were present in France before the Romans got there. Caesar himself wrote: The Celts do have writing: They use written Greek for both public and private transactions. But it is not lawful to commit either their rules or religion to writing. Thus, one could argue that the true innovation introduced by Romans may have been the liberation of the formerly slave-like commonfolk to glorious Roman pantheism and literary freedom!

Al-Andalus was waaaay after the Roman Empire.

True, just as Europe was civilized waaaay after the Orient.

Eh, that seems a bit of a simplification. If by "we", you mean, the "West", then sure. But if not, as one of the maps alludes to, China was busy building its own empire, and in many respects, in terms of local cultural influence, could be seen as the Greece or Rome of Asia. As Rome still influences Western culture today, Chinese culture heavily influenced Korea, Japan, and Vietnam. They have or continue to use Chinese script, their traditional architecture derives from a Chinese model, heck, the South Korean flag is covered in more Chinese symbols than the current Chinese flag.

Except unlike the Romans, they survived their barbarian problems, which is not a small feat, empire management is definitely tricky - just ask England. Arguably China's survival seems a bit awkward - perhaps it's better to go out with a bang rather than dwindle into decline and be spited. Though in the grand scheme of their long history, their current (or past, depending on who you ask) waning is a comparative temporary aberration. Personally, it'll be interesting to see if they'll ever recover from the cultural schism post-civil-war (ask many Chinese people that were on the losing side, and there's a good chance they will distance themselves culturally from "the Mainland", I imagine not too differently from how a South Korean would respond to being called North Korean, but who knows, I'm totally rambling now).

Here's what third-century China thought about the Roman Empire: http://io9.com/heres-what-third-century-china-thought-about-...

THE STANFORD ANCIENT CHINESE AND MEDITERRANEAN EMPIRES COMPARATIVE HISTORY PROJECT: http://web.stanford.edu/~scheidel/acme.htm

Roads: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/283915/Imperial-Hi...

Woodblock printing, paper, silk, porcelain, gunpowder, compasses...

> But then the Barbarians from Northern Europe came...

Sometimes I wonder how things would have been if that didn't happen.

So much technology that was lost, only to be re-discovered centuries later.

Indeed those few centuries after Roman Empire collapses is a great example of human race not (necessarily) advancing as time passes.