In Classical Antiquity, the Roman Empire controlled a very large area of land, which stretched from Great Britain to the Arabian Peninsula. Ancient Rome has been very important to the history of Europe, North Africa, and Western Asia, where the Romans controlled many lands. Ancient Rome's culture took many ideas from other civilizations, especially Ancient Greece and the Greek kingdoms of the Hellenistic period. Ancient Romans' ideas have been very influential for later civilizations. The Romans' Latin language became the most common language in the western Mediterranean and western Europe, and is the ancestor of Romance languages. The Roman emperors were responsible for making Christianity the Romans' state religion, and the Romans spread Christianity across the Roman Empire in Late Antiquity. Roman Christianity replaced Roman religion and other traditional religions. The Romans made many improvements to engineering, architecture, irrigation, and transport.