Rome gave Europe, and also Russia and America, its religion, its politics, and much of its intellectual culture. It is the ancestor of those modern societies, just as much as ancient China is the ancestor of modern China. The only difference is that for Europe, like India and Islam, political unification has been the exception rather than the rule.
If I just go by the beginning and the ending of your essay, its tone is: China was always the center of the world, Europe is a bunch of hillbillies who conquered the world by accident. It emphasizes a handful of economic and geographic contingencies, rather than the continuities of European political and cultural history. It’s interesting looking for obscure and ironic turning points, but one shouldn’t forget the big picture.
Rome gave Europe, and also Russia and America, its religion, its politics, and much of its intellectual culture. It is the ancestor of those modern societies, just as much as ancient China is the ancestor of modern China. The only difference is that for Europe, like India and Islam, political unification has been the exception rather than the rule.
If I just go by the beginning and the ending of your essay, its tone is: China was always the center of the world, Europe is a bunch of hillbillies who conquered the world by accident. It emphasizes a handful of economic and geographic contingencies, rather than the continuities of European political and cultural history. It’s interesting looking for obscure and ironic turning points, but one shouldn’t forget the big picture.