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Indeed. Especially Americans repeat this as parrots. I hardly think any European thinks this way.
I don't feel Voltaire, Hume, Kant and others were any less creators of Western civilisation just because they didn't kick Xerxes into a black hole and shouted SPAAARRTAAAAA.
When people call Greece the cradle of Western civilisation it has nothing to do with hammy actors shouting "Sparta!!!" or bale's fixation with the Western Roman Empire, of which he apparently still feels part of strongly enough to put it as his location as if we were still living in the 3rd century. No, they call it that because Western philosphy as we know it was born of Greek philosophy (and that includes Voltaire, Hume and Kant).
But even the concept of "Europe" is Greek in itself.
I also think France best represents Europe, but it's because of the stereotypes. However, if we talk about historical world importance I would say Greece has to be on top and Britain as a close second. I am not such a huge fan of Greece, I just think what happened there has stood the test of time like nothing else in the western world.
This is a bunch of Romantic-era crap that started during the Greek Revolution in the 19th century. It happened to be politically convenient for Greece to declare independence from the Ottoman Empire so propaganda started flying across Europe about how it was necessary to save the birthplace of civilization from the Ottoman barbarians. Sure, Greece contributed a lot to Western philosophy, but not much in addition to that. The Middle Ages really did more than anything to shape modern Europe.
Location: Near Tours, France about 47°10'N 0°25'E
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No country represent Europe. Europe is by definition identified by it diversity and is finally a loosely defined group of countries with very different cultural origins.
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