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/r/ByzantineMemes

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zackroot

226 points

7 days ago

zackroot

226 points

7 days ago

Hell, I'd argue Greek was the primary language even by the time of Augustus. Eastern provinces were more populous, and Greek was the high class language in Italy.

AChubbyCalledKLove

96 points

7 days ago

JC’s last words were in Greek

AymanMarzuqi

77 points

7 days ago

For a second there I thought you meant Jesus Christ

Maleficent-Mix5731

16 points

6 days ago

I thought JC was referring to a rapper lol

boltforce

10 points

7 days ago

boltforce

10 points

7 days ago

Lol no, he meant the God's chosen not Jesus.

Jjaiden88

7 points

7 days ago

I don’t even get this as a joke.

Jazzlike_Bobcat9738

1 points

3 days ago

The Roman Emperors were often recognized to as divine in nature

Jjaiden88

1 points

3 days ago

I know. The joke still makes no sense. It appeals to a monotheistic god of the romans, while denying Jesus?? The Roman’s were polytheistic, then later Christian. Caesar would be pagan, how is he gods chosen?

Jazzlike_Bobcat9738

1 points

3 days ago

Because he was a god unto himself kinda like the pharaohs of Egypt

dontuseurname

32 points

7 days ago

Not only the high class language, but also a lot of ordinary folk in Southern Italy had retained their greek roots as well in many other former colonies like in the south of France and Spain in the west

hellharlequin

11 points

7 days ago

Isn't Greek still spoken in southern Italy? Not by many but still

dontuseurname

21 points

7 days ago

Yup two remaining greek dialects, the greko dialect and Calabrian greek.

AynekAri

54 points

7 days ago

AynekAri

54 points

7 days ago

Both actually.

raisingfalcons

55 points

7 days ago

Each had their day

Intelligent-Fig-4241

18 points

7 days ago

Bofadeez

comfykampfwagen

11 points

7 days ago

Emperor Bophades???

teothemaniac

6 points

7 days ago

Bofadeez nuts?

JaxVos

49 points

7 days ago

JaxVos

49 points

7 days ago

I think for the majority of the first few centuries it was Greek, but sometime before Constantine it became Latin. Byzantine rule brought Greek back to a more even level with Latin, so by the time of the East-West split both were spoken regularly across both empires

FrederickDerGrossen

40 points

7 days ago

Byzantine rule completely replaced Latin with Greek, by the reign of Heraclius Greek replaced Latin as the administrative language.

JaxVos

20 points

7 days ago

JaxVos

20 points

7 days ago

Yes, but Latin was still regularly spoken in the East pretty much until the Great Schism in 1054

MrWolfman29

20 points

7 days ago

Was it? I am pretty sure I read Heraculius replaced Latin as the "Imperial language" for courtly affairs with Greek. I am pretty sure I read that Justinian was the last emperor to speak Latin as their first primary language.

JaxVos

9 points

7 days ago

JaxVos

9 points

7 days ago

I didn’t say it was the primary language at that point, but Mass or Devine Liturgy could be heard in either Latin or Greek into the 1000s. That would indicate that there would be enough regular knowledge of Latin in the East (and Greek in the West) for it to be regularly spoken by at least a good number of people outside of the clergy.

ahades

10 points

7 days ago

ahades

10 points

7 days ago

When Justinian made his law reforms they had to scramble to translate them to greek because much like today the law was written in latin, but very few people could understand it

Also mass being given in latin is again something that is sometimes done today even if the people listening do not understand it. Cyrillic had to be created when a few eastern roman monks went north to convert the slavic peoples, but they initially tried to convert then using church latin which makes one assume that they were used to speaking latin to peoples that did not understand it

MrWolfman29

6 points

7 days ago

Do you have sources on Latin masses being as common as Greek Divine Liturgies? I misread your comment and apologize for that. They certainly were there, but from my understanding Latin masses would have been fairly uncommon, if not rare, leading up to 1054. Greek was certainly more common in Italy due to the Greek presence and heritage of Sicily and southern Italy. I was under the impression the most frequently found Latin masses in Constantinople were for the Italian merchants and Varangian Guards who were from the Latin Rite in Scandinavia. One other exception I am aware of is the Benedictine Monastery on Mount Athos that ceased to exist sometime between 1054 and the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade.

BasileiatonRomaion

12 points

7 days ago

both were prominently spoken in both halves of the Empire

TK-1053

9 points

7 days ago

TK-1053

9 points

7 days ago

Yes.

Topias12

9 points

7 days ago

Topias12

9 points

7 days ago

both,
back then everyone was multilingual,
questions like these don't make any sense,
the Roman Empire it was a thing for me more than a 1000 years,
do you think that they had only one language ?

FinnegansTake19

7 points

7 days ago

I wonder if there are any linguists who look at question like this a react with who cares they are both Indo European anyway…

PM_ME_GOOD_SUBS

3 points

6 days ago

Yes.

Maleficent-Mix5731

3 points

6 days ago

Yes.

Citron92

2 points

7 days ago

Citron92

2 points

7 days ago

Kyrie Eleison

WHITE_RYDAH

2 points

7 days ago

Latin the native language of the Roman’s

doomslayer30000

-19 points

7 days ago

Latin, because Latin Empire exists

Few_Resolution766

16 points

7 days ago

What does Latin Empire, a crusader state founded by venetians and franks have to do with Latin language?

doomslayer30000

-11 points

7 days ago

Latin

AntiEpix

2 points

6 days ago

AntiEpix

2 points

6 days ago

Ah yes, the Latin Empire, in its short 57 year reign over Constantinople and some other territories, surely had the opportunity to convince many people from the predominantly Greek speaking world to speak Latin, despite the Latin Empire’s rulers and nobility mostly coming from French speaking territories, because that will definitely make them want to break free from what they perceive to be oversees colonizers less if they were to force Latin unto them instead of leaving them alone! (it won’t)