I'm confused by all the confusion about "western" here. It refers to a family of civilizations, cultures, and nations. Despite the geographic specifier, it is p

I'm confused by all the confusion about "western" here. It refers to a family of civilizations, cultures, and nations. Despite the geographic specifier, it is primarily about people and traditions, not a location. Pick up any book about "Western Civilization" and it always refers to the thing that nucleated with Greece and Rome, and then all the things that descended from it. Byzantium is absolutely part of this lineage.