Who Has Contributed More: Italy or Greece?

[Sikeliot]

Greeks in ancient times, Italians from the Middle Ages onward.

[Prisoner Of Ice]

I voted Greece, because . . . apart from sanitation, medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh water system and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?

I think the greeks had the first wine, though. At any rate they had it far sooner than romans. Actually it's georgians who had first wine I think, nevermind.

[Smaug]

Italy with no doubt.

[Smaug]

I voted Greece, because . . . apart from sanitation, medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh water system and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?

Life of Brian! Love it!

[Leliana]

The Roman culture were unthinkable without Greek cultural influx. But Italy is not the Roman Empire, Italy is a product of the 19th century.

So the poll makes no sense.

[Dombra]

The Roman culture were unthinkable without Greek cultural influx. But Italy is not the Roman Empire, Italy is a product of the 19th century.

So the poll makes no sense.

How about Italy as in the Italian peninsula?

Greece is an artificial 19th century construct as well if you think about it that way! City states and later parts of larger empires

"Italy" has contributed since the Roman days while Greece was only performing so-so after their antique run until the Ottomans observed them and they have remained inactive ever since

Now they are both inactive wogs

[SKYNET]

Equal.

[wvwvw]

It's hard to really credit the Greece with the sort of overwhelming legacy of Italy: Roman Empire, Roman Catholic Church, Italian Renaissance, etc.

Don't overlook the history of Medieval Greece. What was Rome for Roman Empire before the split, was Greece for the Byzantine Empire (Eastern Roman Empire).

In AD 476 the Roman Empire fell - or rather, its western half did. Its eastern half, which would come to be known as the Byzantine Empire. Heraclius, after his the accession to the Byzantine throne in 610 A.D, made Greek the official language and by 650 A.D., only a very few lingering Roman elements remained alongside the pervasive Greek influence.

Roman Catholics and Franks would refer to it as "The Greek Empire". The Byzantine Empire, having had its origins in the Eastern Roman Empire, now evolved into something new something different from its predecessor. Additionally , the Byzantine army fought in a style which was much closer to that of the Ancient Athenians and Spartans than that of the Roman Legions.

"Byzantine civilization is important because without it the modern Western world would not exist. Byzantium preserved and protected the very foundations of Western civilization, and it remains every bit as important as the ancient empires of classical Greece and Rome to civilization as we know it."

"The Byzantine Empire was the Shield of the West, actively protecting all of Europe from both invasion and cultural destruction."

"The most brilliant of medieval civilizations was the Eastern Roman Empire. The Roman Empire was divided in AD 395 into two parts. The Western half, ruled from Rome, fell to the tribal Germanic peoples known as barbarians in the 5th century. The Eastern half, known as the Byzantine Empire, lasted for more than over 1,000 years. Until the mid-12th century, when it began to decline in power, the Byzantine Empire was one of the leading civilizations in the world."

"One of the most impressive achievements of Byzantium was its very survival during a period of 1123 years (330–1453). It was one of the longest lasting social organisations in history."

Last, as Judith Herrin wrote: ‘without Byzantium there would have been no Europe'.Byzantium served as Europe’s buffer for the ‘incubators of nations and religions’ (Central Asia and the Middle East). By resisting attacks Byzantium gave Europe time to recover from catastrophic plagues and wars, and prepare for the 'European age' of global affairs.

Virtually all of Byzantium's achievements eventually came to benefit the West, to which they were introduced either by Greeks themselves or by Western travelers returning from Constantinople. As Etienne Gilson, the leading modern scholar of medieval Western thought, has said, the Latin West revived philosophically only when it once again came into contact, with the ideas of ancient Greek philosophy. No less important was the Byzantine role in Christianizing and civilizing the Slavic the peoples.

[Peyrol]

Ancient times: Greece obviously

Modern Times; Italy....Renaissance, Banking (invented in Venice), Capitalism (Venice, Milan and Florence), Science ( Galileo is the inventor if modern sience...and then...Volta, Marconi, Galvani, Mercalli, etc) , Culture, Art, Music, etc...

[Peyrol]

the aqueduct

...and the cunnilingus...and many other things....Rome uber alles.