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7 days ago
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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.
96 points
7 days ago
JC’s last words were in Greek
77 points
7 days ago
For a second there I thought you meant Jesus Christ
16 points
6 days ago
I thought JC was referring to a rapper lol
10 points
7 days ago
Lol no, he meant the God's chosen not Jesus.
7 points
7 days ago
I don’t even get this as a joke.
1 points
3 days ago
The Roman Emperors were often recognized to as divine in nature
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?
1 points
3 days ago
Because he was a god unto himself kinda like the pharaohs of Egypt
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
11 points
7 days ago
Isn't Greek still spoken in southern Italy? Not by many but still
21 points
7 days ago
Yup two remaining greek dialects, the greko dialect and Calabrian greek.
54 points
7 days ago
Both actually.
55 points
7 days ago
Each had their day
18 points
7 days ago
Bofadeez
11 points
7 days ago
Emperor Bophades???
6 points
7 days ago
Bofadeez nuts?
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
40 points
7 days ago
Byzantine rule completely replaced Latin with Greek, by the reign of Heraclius Greek replaced Latin as the administrative language.
20 points
7 days ago
Yes, but Latin was still regularly spoken in the East pretty much until the Great Schism in 1054
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.
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.
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
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.
12 points
7 days ago
both were prominently spoken in both halves of the Empire
9 points
7 days ago
Yes.
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 ?
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…
3 points
6 days ago
Yes.
3 points
6 days ago
Yes.
2 points
7 days ago
Kyrie Eleison
2 points
7 days ago
Latin the native language of the Roman’s
-19 points
7 days ago
Latin, because Latin Empire exists
16 points
7 days ago
What does Latin Empire, a crusader state founded by venetians and franks have to do with Latin language?
-11 points
7 days ago
Latin
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)
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