Planning for the World

In terms of mathematics for example they borrowed heavily from their eastern neighbours, like Babylon. 

Many in the western world would prefer the idea of Greek democracy over Persian despotism. 

But that is the sort of simplification that distract from the historical reality. It wasn't black and white. 

Greece differed but the essence of that difference did not necessarily mean it was years ahead or for that matter, that another was years behind.

Hellen (not Hellenistic - for that is Hellen culture overtaken by the east) culture did follow a path different from their neighbours. 

Geographical factors played a large part in this. 

Greece as the western world knew it could not have existed on the floodplains of Mesopotamia or the Nile basin. 

Its relative secludedness allowed it to flourish in its own right.