The Romans definitely did obliterate some cultures, Carthage most prominently - they retrieved some specific books they thought would be useful but burnt everyt

The Romans definitely did obliterate some cultures, Carthage most prominently - they retrieved some specific books they thought would be useful but burnt everything else. Dacia certainly suffered more than many Roman conquests, its capital was destroyed, huge numbers of slaves were extracted, and there was a huge influx of Romans after it became a province. Others fared better - obviously Rome was much enamoured of Greek culture, but would have struggled to stamp it out even if it didn't absorb it. Egypt's history was fairly durable in that it was written, widely distributed and well-preserved in the climate of North Africa. Bear in mind that much of what survives about Rome itself is through a series of incredibly lucky events, many of which come down to Rome being the seat of Christendom for so long, which meant texts survived (even as palimpsests) in monasteries etc. Tacitus gives us a speech by one Calgacus, a British chieftain facing Roman conquest, who probably sums them up quite neatly: "But there are no tribes beyond us, nothing indeed but waves and rocks, and the yet more terrible Romans, from whose oppression escape is vainly sought by obedience and submission. Robbers of the world, having by their universal plunder exhausted the land, they rifle the deep. If the enemy be rich, they are rapacious; if he be poor, they lust for dominion; neither the east nor the west has been able to satisfy them. Alone among men they covet with equal eagerness poverty and riches. To robbery, slaughter, plunder, they give the lying name of empire; they make a solitude and call it peace."