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It is nothing more and nothing less than the world of Gary Gygax's imagination. Since that man had such an extraordinary mind, influenced by so much great literature but also so hugely inventive, his world defies simple definition.

One thing that I think is important to keep in mind is that in all his writings, whether "rules" or "modules," Gygax's goal was to teach us, to share with us examples of how things were in his own campaign, with the idea that we would use them in our own campaigns however we wanted. So, while it is true that he and his fans became more and more interested in the world of Greyhawk for its own sake, everything from Greyhawk has also been (and continues to be) shamelessly borrowed into every other AD&D world, which sometimes leads to the impression that Greyhawk is "generic".

But, whereas with these other worlds, the emphasis came to be upon details - i.e. "cooperatively" realizing a very detailed and therefore very "realistic" world which was recognizable from campaign to campaign, with Greyhawk the emphasis was upon ideas - i.e. keeping things relatively open for the creative DM and Players to expand as it suited them, but with plenty of ideas for directions in which the past and future could develop in unique ways.

Here are three things you can do to get a handle on the essence of "Greyhawk":

1. Read the Original Dungeons & Dragons (1974) set, and then read Greyhawk (1975). Whereas the former sets to work showing you how to recreate the worlds of Tolkien and Mythology (with hints of Burroughs and others), the latter is stuffed with creative, original material created by Gygax for his campaign. If you don't take this material for granted as "generic D&D" material, you will be able to appreciate the genius of Greyhawk.

2. Play the modules The Village of Hommlet, The Temple of Elemental Evil, The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth, and The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun.

3. Read the novel The Artifact of Evil.

Some random thoughts:

Greyhawk is definitely a "Medieval" setting-not "Ancient" nor "Renaissance". Ruins there are aplenty, with the upper levels dating to the fall of some recent empire (still inhabited by some cult or conspiracy), and the lowest levels dating to antiquity (with some eldritch demon or Cthulhuian horror lurking in its depths).

The only "famous NPCs" are actually just other PCs, and as such they are no more powerful than your PCs will be once attaining name level, nor are they as a rule benevolent or friendly.

Hope that helps. Regards.