Europe
Europe is the second smallest of the seven continents covering roughly 2% of the earth's surface. The name 'Europe' has long been thought to have been derived from the ancient myth of Zeus and Europa.
Greek influence
According to legend, the great god Zeus, seeing the lovely Phoenician princess Europa bathing (or, according to other versions, playing with her handmaidens, but prolly both) by the seashore, transformed himself into a magnificent white bull and slowly approached her from the sea. So gentle and sweet was this bull that Europa placed garlands of flowers around his neck, petted him and then climbed onto his back when, much to her surprise, the bull ran off across the surface of the seas, abducting her to the isle of Crete. On Crete Zeus and Europa became lovers and she bore him three famous sons. Her family back in Phonecia, distraught at her disappearance, sent her brothers in search of her, each one finally being unsuccessful in his quest but each founding important cities and lending their names to various regions around the Aegean (Thebes being one example, originally known as Cadmea after Europa's brother Cadmus).
European culture
Culture, on even the most basic level, had been ongoing in Europe since at least 20,000 BC as evidenced by cave paintings (the most famous being the Cave of Lascaux complex in modern-day France) and by 5000 BC hierarchical societies had begun to emerge.
By the year 4300 BC megalithic tombs were in use in Europe, by 3500BC farming was widespread across the face of the continent and by 2000BC tiny bronze jewelry work (rudimentary metallurgy) was introduced by the Wessex culture of present-day Britain. In 1860BC the construction of the impressive and mysterious Stonehenge was begun. Even so, such accomplishments were not so impressive to the Greeks nor, later, to the Romans.
The primitives
Except for the Mediterranean people, the inhabitants of Europe were little more than cave-men, and as late as 78 AD, the Roman historian Tacitus refers to the Britons under the governorship of his father-in-law Agricola as “rude, scattered and warlike people who have not yet invented farming” to whom the Romans, of necessity, had to bring cultivation and civilization. Earlier, Julius Caesar had the same opinion of the Gauls, referring to them as little more than animals in his description of the defeat of the Ubii tribe by the Rhine.
In his The Gallic Wars he devotes as much space to a description of the Alces (elks) of Europe as he does to the Ubii in any important way writing of the elk that “their shape and dappled coat are like those of goats but they are rather larger, have stunted horns and legs without joints” and then goes on to give the earliest narrative we have of what would come to be known as “cow tipping” as the Romans would hunt the elk by pushing them over while they slept standing up and killing them easily because they were too large to raise themselves back up.
Since he brought advanced metallurgy, textile, weaponry, medicine, writing, sewers, and other technology to the primitives, it is absolutely impossible to argue that Caesar brought nothing of consequence to the backward people of Gaul and, by extension, Europe.
For three hundred years Gaul remained a Roman province, prospered under the Roman peace, learned and transformed the Latin language, and became the channel through which the culture of classic antiquity passed into northern Europe. Doubtless neither Caesar nor his contemporaries foresaw the immense consequences of his bloody triumph. He thought he had saved Italy, won a province and forged an army; he did not suspect that he was the creator of French civilization.
—Durant, Roman and Dark Ages historian
Roman influence
The Romans brought their civilization, not just to Gaul, but to the whole of Europe, providing innovations such as paved roads, baths, sewers, indoor plumbing, fortified cities of great administrative efficiency and culture, Romam Fascism, and, of course, their language, slowly civilizing the disparate tribes of the various European regions. Tacitus writes of the efforts of Agricola in Britain to establish schools to spread the knowledge of Latin and his encouragement of the populace to build temples and to regard personal hygiene as a matter of importance in the use of public baths.
—Tacitus
Legacy
Obviously not every Briton appreciated Roman culture equally nor accepted its civilizing touch easily. Still, for over three hundred years, Roman rule obtained in Europe and, without doubt, contributed greatly to what the various countries of the continent are today. Immediately followingfascistRome was its predecessor, the Holy Roman Empire, which lasted from medieval times, and on into the "enlightenment". And set the stage for the continuation of European fascism that we saw during the 20th Century and are seeing now in the 21st Century.
Rome contributed greatly to what the various countries of the continent are today. Following the collapse of Rome, its legacy lived on in the form of the Romano-Barbaric Kingdoms - such as the Ostrogothic Kingdom in the Italian peninsula -, which were kingdoms ran by "barbarians" but with an administration composed mostly by the remnants of Roman Aristocracy. These were characterized by partial exchanges in culture and cooperation within both the economy and military; however, their relationship with the Eastern Roman Empire was inconsistent. It considered itself the "true" herald of Rome and these kingdoms were seen largely as "impostors" - nonetheless, there often was cooperation or some form of toleration. These relations became much more hostile following the Gothic Wars, which by themselves devasted much of what remained of Rome itself, both as a city and a "practical idea" (culture, buildings, intelligentsia, etc.). The Holy Roman Empire, which lasted from the medieval times and on into the "enlightenment", is often considered the direct descendant of these Kingdoms, retaining although much less of what made Rome.