They were Romans... but that doesn’t make them Westerners. It’s true that the notion of Occidental culture is not purely geographical (see Al-Andalus, which had

They were Romans... but that doesn’t make them Westerners. It’s true that the notion of Occidental culture is not purely geographical (see Al-Andalus, which had nevertheless some influence in Spanish culture). Should we consider “occidental” the Bulgarian or Roman Empires from one thousand years ago? You may want to do so, but then you may be surprised that they are “somehow” not usually considered as such.