Languages of the Roman Empire

• 1. Latin And Greek Dominance

  ›

  A bronze tablet from 69 AD records the Senate recognizing Vespasian as emperor, written entirely in Latin. This document illustrates how Latin served as the primary language of imperial administration and legislation throughout the classical period. The Julio-Claudian emperors encouraged high standards of correct Latin to maintain unity among their subjects. Virgil's epic poem Aeneid describes Jupiter dictating that refugee Trojans would use the native Latini speech to unify Italy. Educated Romans often achieved fluency in Greek for diplomatic communications extending beyond the Empire borders. Koine Greek became a shared language across the eastern Mediterranean following Alexander the Great's conquests. The linguistic frontier dividing the Latin West and the Greek East passed through the Balkan Peninsula. In the West, Latin functioned as the lingua franca for local city administration including law courts. After all freeborn inhabitants received universal citizenship in 212 AD, many Roman citizens lacked Latin but were expected to acquire token knowledge. Latin remained a marker of Romanness even when speakers did not possess full fluency.

• 2. Regional Language Survival

  ›

  In North Africa, Punic continued to be used during the Imperial period alongside Latin and Greek. One Neo-Punic inscription appears on a monument dating to the reign of Domitian between 81 and 96 AD. Emperor Septimius Severus was born in Leptis Magna and spoke Punic along with Latin and Greek. His sister supposedly had little command of Latin at all. Coptic emerged as a fully literary language by the 4th century, including major translations of Greek scriptures. Written Coptic script uses the Greek alphabet with additional characters from Egyptian demotic to reflect phonology. By the 640s, Coptic-speaking Christians constituted the majority of Egypt's population under Arab rule. Celtic languages like Gaulish persisted in western Europe despite Latin replacing them in official contexts. Irenaeus bishop of Lugdunum from 177 AD complained he had to communicate with parishioners in their barbarous tongue. The jurist Ulpian mentions the need to recognize Gaulish verbal contracts in legal proceedings. A druidess made a prophecy in Gaulish to Alexander Severus between 208 and 235 AD. Germanic languages left next to no inscriptions except for Gothic which preserved parts of the Gospels in the Codex Argenteus.

• 3. Multilingualism And Identity

  ›

  A 2nd-century epitaph discovered near South Shields in northeast England features a woman named Regina and her husband Barates. The inscription combines Latin and Palmyrene Aramaic, suggesting Barates was bilingual in Aramaic and Greek while adding Latin as a third language. Regina herself is identified as from the British Catuvellauni people whose capital was Verulamium. Trilingualism was perhaps not uncommon among educated people from regions where other languages were spoken. The Latin novelist Apuleius wrote in Greek and learned Punic from his mother. The Babatha Archive contains papyri dating from 93 to 132 AD mostly employing Aramaic written in Greek characters. These documents show how individuals constructed personal identities through bilingual or trilingual capabilities. Multilingualism contributed to cultural triangulation allowing non-Greek or non-Roman people to form new identities. Some names like Regina could be either Latin or Celtic chosen deliberately for their duality. A Frankish-Latin bilingual man of the Candidati Imperial bodyguard began speaking perfect Aramaic during demonic possession despite knowing only Frankish and Latin.

• 4. Religious Textual Traditions

  ›

  The international use of Greek enabled the spread of Christianity throughout the Roman Empire. Greek served as the language of the New Testament and the ecumenical councils rather than Latin. In Egypt, Coptic became the standard language for Christian liturgical texts from the 4th to 7th centuries. Syriac literature emerged around Antioch particularly by Christians in Edessa from the latter 2nd century. Bardesanes wrote 150 hymns of enormous influence and doubtful doctrine in his ethnic language while knowing Greek. Early Syriac literature was produced in a largely Greek intellectual milieu until the 4th century. Jewish communities in Palaestina Prima and Secunda coexisted with Hebrew and Jewish Aramaic in the first half of the 5th century. The Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible known as the Septuagint predated the Imperial era. Constantine used an interpreter to address Greek-speaking bishops at the Council of Nicaea since Latin was spoken in his court. By late antiquity, at least some Christian literature had been created for virtually every language in regular use throughout the Empire.

• 5. Legal Linguistic Frameworks

  ›

  Roman law was written in Latin where the letter of the law remained tied strictly to specific words. Any language could be binding in more general verbal contracts grounded in international law principles. Birth certificates and wills of Roman citizens had to be written in Latin until the time of Alexander Severus. Ulpian asserted that fideicommissa bequests in trust were not limited to Latin or even Greek but could also be created in Punic Gaulish or any other language. Gaius distinguished between verbal contracts deriving validity from formulaic utterance in Latin versus obligations expressing mutual understanding regardless of party nationality. Laws and edicts were posted in writing as well as read out aloud by government scribes. Illiterate Roman subjects would have someone such as a scriba read or write their official documents for them. Estimates of average literacy rates in the Empire range from 5 to 30 percent depending on definitions. The lack of state intervention in access to education served as a barrier since formal schooling required payment. Public art and religious ceremonies communicated imperial ideology regardless of language spoken or reading ability.

• 6. Evolution Into Romance Languages

  ›

  After decentralization of political power in late antiquity, Latin developed locally into branches becoming modern Romance languages. These include Spanish Portuguese French Italian Catalan Occitan Aromanian Romanian Sardinian Dalmatian Venetian and African Romance. By the early 21st century more than one billion people spoke first or second languages derived from Latin. In Italy written use of Latin replaced Oscan and Etruscan by the end of the 1st century AD. Oscan graffiti preserved by Vesuvius eruption in 79 AD at Pompeii date before or after an earlier earthquake in 62 AD. Greek was the language of higher status persons like government officials during the Imperial era in Sicily. Latin did not become deeply entrenched in Britannia where it may have dwindled rapidly after withdrawal around 410 AD. Pockets of Latin-speaking Britons survived in western Britain until about 700 AD. Basque survived in the Pyrenees region as a non-Indo-European language distinct from Celtic neighbors. Proto-Albanian received major influx of Latin vocabulary throughout centuries following incorporation into Roman Empire.