not so sure about that, it is taught in schools that after the greek period there was a time of stagnation and then a sudden new burst in technology by the romans. it does not take but a few minutes to state that an earlier civilization may have had a large impact on Rome, namely that many of their advancements were copied from an earlier civilization, the Etruscans. And that many of the records of that society were destroyed by the romans, and incorporated into their own. It is not great leap to think that subsequent writers may have extolled the virtues of their own heroes rather than a society they conquered. I thought purple was a roman thing for years. Etruscan statues, over 10,000 texts, sarcophagi. Looks like Etruscan culture was subsumed and adopted by the Romans, and that Etruscan culture stretched all the way back to Greek times. So continuous trading and exchange of information would suggest that Roman society is linked all the way to Greece through the Etruscans. Thats an important idea imo