Western civilization is an amalgamation of traditions, values, beliefs, and practices derived from the complex interplay between past and present in the Western world. It may be described as a wide-ranging intellectual, social and cultural phenomenon encompassing diverse peoples, events, ideas and styles that span the political and cultural trajectory from the classical period of Ancient Greece and Rome, through to the European Enlightenment of the eighteenth century, and beyond. It is an ever-evolving process in which individuals, communities and nations continue to redefine what it means to be 'western' in the context of a globalized world.

See also: ancient greek, left hemisphere, right hemisphere, corpus callosum, middle age