What happened to thier knowledge?

[carsonking]

Egypt and other countries around the world have built fantastic structures and invented so many things we still use today. The Greeks, The Romans, what happened, you wouldn't be too comfortable if your new builder turned out to be Egyption these days. Italians, what happened to them, they influenced so much when they were Romans, yet don't exactly stand out from the crowed these days. What happens to these great nations, why do they seem to go backwards after losing thier empires?

[heathfield]

When these societies collapsed, they could no longer afford to support science and the arts. Learning and knowledge are ignored when poor nations have to depend upon a hand-to-mouth existence. With the discovery of the New World and its riches, and the huge profits gained from the new trade with the Far East, European nations again became rich, and could afford to support a renewed quest for learning and the arts that brought about the Renaissance. Many Italians did stand out from the crowd, but Catholic countries tended to be held back from scientific investigation by the Church - The last thing they wanted was scientists coming up with something that contradicted ''the word of God'' (as they interpreted it), and their own religious dogmas.
At the same time, the invention of printing meant that people could gain knowledge quickly and cheaply. But a problem arose with Arabic speaking countries. The letter forms of written Arabic change according to the adjoining letters. This made printing in Arabic such a complicated effort that they decided, to their detriment, to give it up altogether.
So, in general, it was the Protestant countries of northern Europe that had the means and the will to stride ahead.

[carsonking]

That makes sense, thank you very much for your time explaining.