The answer is simple, and sad. We (I am Greek) missed out on the Renaissance and the Enlightenment because we were under the boot of the Ottoman empire for 400

The answer is simple, and sad. We (I am Greek) missed out on the Renaissance and the Enlightenment because we were under the boot of the Ottoman empire for 400 years. By the time we achieved freedom, we were a backwater too far behind everyone else in Europe to be competitive.