It's worth remembering that Northern Europe has a comparatively harsher climate compared to Southern Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. Even until the

It's worth remembering that Northern Europe has a comparatively harsher climate compared to Southern Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. Even until the late bronze age to early iron age, the poorer soil quality and colder climate meant less reliance on agricultural output and cereal crops was needed. Rather than being able to grow more favourable crops like wheat and millet (which was grown occasionally pre-Viking Age and during the Medieval Warm Period, still 2500-2000 years after the period we're talking about), the cereal crops of choice would have been ones that are more frost resistant and less reliant on soil quality like spelt, barley, rye (which could be grown in very poor soil like bogs), oats, etc. Rice is an important crop with similar yield to wheat with less processing needed, but it simply doesn't grow much further north than Italy or Spain. Hardy vegetables like cabbage, peas, and root vegetables like turnip, grass land for grazing and the subsequent diary products, wild game, seafood, etc, were all just as important given the shorter growing seasons and harsher winters. These factors and more means that for much of its history, Europe and especially Northern Europe had less food output which led to lower population density with cities being less capable of producing a similar amount of cultural output that you see in the Med/MENA countries. Even for the Romans, again 2000-1500 years after the period we're talking about, countries like Morocco and Egypt were important for the Republic and Empire and were known as breadbaskets.