Why do we remember the Greeks?

Most Greek city states were smaller then Dayton Ohio or Trenton NJ

Mainland Greece is no larger then present day Alabama

Napoleon had more men under arms then the entire Greek population

The average Greek soldier was 5.5 feet and weight 130 pounds

It was bordered by the Persian empire which encompassed 1 million square miles and 70 million subjects. So why do we remember the Greeks? It is like the universe 'how did it happen'? Why did it get started? In Greece we ask what gave rise to democracy, thinking, ..?

Thomas Paine said "What Athens was in miniature America will be in magnitude"

Sparta used iron spits rather then currency since they would not be easy to use outside of Spartan controlled area and thus not corrupt there citizens.

In 27 years the Athenian experience was finished. Imagine that - why?

So why do we remember the Greeks?