Roman Empire

==Languages==
{{Main|Languages of the Roman Empire}}
{{see also|Jireček Line}}

Latin and Greek were the main languages of the Empire,{{Efn|name=diglossia|Its been called a state of bilingualism but that's only true of the educated and so Bruno Rochette suggests it's more appropriate as a [[diglossia]] but concedes this still does not adequately explain it, as Greek was "high" against Latins "Super-high".{{sfnp|Rochette|2018|p=123}}   Latin experienced a period of spreading from the second century BCE, and especially in the western provinces, but not as much in the eastern provinces.<ref>{{Harvp|Rochette|2012|pp=562–563}}</ref> In the east, Greek was always the dominant language, a left over influence from the [[Hellenistic period]] that predates the Empire.{{sfnp|Rochette|2018|p=108}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Millar |first=Fergus |title=A Greek Roman Empire: Power and Belief under Theodosius II (408–450) |date=2006 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=0-520-94141-1 |page=279 |author-link=Fergus Millar}}; {{Harvp|Treadgold|1997|pages=5–7}}</ref>}} but the Empire was deliberately multilingual.{{sfnp|Rochette|2018|p=117}} [[Andrew Wallace-Hadrill]] says "The main desire of the Roman government was to make itself understood".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wallace-Hadrill |first=Andrew |title=Rome's cultural revolution |date=2010 |publisher=Cambridge Univ. Press |isbn=978-0-521-72160-8 |edition=Repr. with corr |location=Cambridge|page=60}}</ref> At the start of the Empire, knowledge of Greek was useful to pass as educated nobility and knowledge of Latin was useful for a career in the military, government, or law.<ref>Rochette (1997, 2010, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2007), J. N. Adams (2003), Kearsley and Evans (2001), Binder (2000: 21–48), Rizakis (1995, 2008), Holford-Strevens (1993), Petersmann (1992), Dubuisson (1981, 1992a, 1992b), Millar (2006a: 84–93), Mullen (2011), Garcea (2019), Fournet (2019), Rapp (2019), Nocchi Macedo(2019), Pellizzari (2019), Rhoby (2019), Ghiretti (1996), García Domingo (1983), Zgusta (1980), Kaimio (1979a, 1979b), Hahn (1906), Mullen and James (2012), Stein (1915: 132–186) as cited in {{Cite book |last=Dickey |first=Eleanor |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/9781108888387/type/book |title=Latin Loanwords in Ancient Greek: A Lexicon and Analysis |date=2023 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-88838-7 |edition=1st |page=4 |doi=10.1017/9781108888387 |s2cid=258920619 |access-date=17 August 2023 |archive-date=9 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240209190604/https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/latin-loanwords-in-ancient-greek/F5D4E8C56689A2584BD68753B99CCDE9 |url-status=live }}</ref> Bilingual inscriptions indicate the everyday interpenetration of the two languages.<ref>{{Harvp|Rochette|2012|p=556}}; {{Harvp|Adams|2003|p=200}}</ref>

Latin and Greek's mutual linguistic and cultural influence is a complex topic.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Feeney |first=Denis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YQRuCwAAQBAJ |title=Beyond Greek: The Beginnings of Latin Literature |date=2016 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-49604-0 |language=en |access-date=17 August 2023 |archive-date=4 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231004101709/https://books.google.com/books?id=YQRuCwAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> Latin words incorporated into Greek were very common by the early imperial era, especially for military, administration, and trade and commerce matters.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dickey |first=Eleanor |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uNXBEAAAQBAJ |title=Latin Loanwords in Ancient Greek: A Lexicon and Analysis |date=2023 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-89734-1 |language=en |page=651 |access-date=17 August 2023 |archive-date=4 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231004102009/https://books.google.com/books?id=uNXBEAAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> Greek grammar, literature, poetry and philosophy shaped Latin language and culture.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Batstone |first=William W. |title=A Companion to the Roman Republic |chapter-url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9780470996980.ch25 |chapter=Literature |date=2006 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-1-4051-0217-9 |editor-last=Rosenstein |editor-first=Nathan |edition=1 |pages=543–564 |language=en |doi=10.1002/9780470996980.ch25 |access-date=2023-08-17 |editor2-last=Morstein-Marx |editor2-first=Robert |archive-date=18 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230718183126/https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9780470996980.ch25 |url-status=live }}</ref>{{sfnp|Freeman|2000|p=438}}

[[File:P.Ryl. I 61.tif|thumb|upright=1.4|left|A 5th-century [[papyrus]] showing a parallel Latin-Greek text of a speech by [[Cicero]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=[[Cicero]] |title=[[In Catilinam]] |edition=[[Rylands Papyri]] |volume=I 61 "[[recto]]" |page=2.15}}</ref>]]
There was never a legal requirement for Latin in the Empire, but it represented a certain status.<ref>{{harvnb|Adams|2003|pp=188, 197}}; {{harvnb|Freeman|2000|p=394}}; {{harvnb|Rochette|2012|p=549}}</ref> High standards of Latin, ''[[Classical Latin|Latinitas]]'', started with the advent of Latin literature.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bloomer |first=W. Martin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7PmACgAAQBAJ |title=Latinity and Literary Society at Rome |date=1997 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=978-0-8122-3390-2 |language=en |page=4 |access-date=17 August 2023 |archive-date=4 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231004102055/https://books.google.com/books?id=7PmACgAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> Due to the flexible language policy of the Empire, a natural competition of language emerged that spurred ''Latinitas'', to defend Latin against the stronger cultural influence of Greek.{{sfnp|Rochette|2018|p=122}} Over time Latin usage was used to project power and a higher social class.<ref>{{Cite book |last=La Bua |first=Giuseppe |title=Cicero and Roman education: the reception of the speeches and ancient scholarship |date=2019 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-06858-2 |location=Cambridge (GB)|pages=329ff}}</ref>{{sfnp|Adams|2003|p=205}} Most of the emperors were bilingual but had a preference for Latin in the public sphere for political reasons, a "rule" that first started during the [[Punic Wars]].{{sfnm|Rochette|2023|1p=263, 268|Rochette|2018|2pp=114–115, 118}} Different emperors up until Justinian would attempt to require the use of Latin in various sections of the administration but there is no evidence that a linguistic imperialism existed during the early Empire.{{sfnp|Rochette|2018}}

After all freeborn inhabitants were universally [[wikt:enfranchise|enfranchised]] in [[Constitutio Antoniniana|212]], many Roman citizens would have lacked a knowledge of Latin.{{Sfnp|Adams|2003|pp=185–186, 205}} The wide use of [[Koine Greek]] was what enabled the spread of Christianity and reflects its role as the [[lingua franca]] of the Mediterranean during the time of the Empire.{{Sfnp|Treadgold|1997|pages=5–7}} Following Diocletian's reforms in the 3rd century CE, there was a decline in the knowledge of Greek in the west.{{sfnp|Rochette|2018|pp=108–109}} Spoken Latin later fragmented into the incipient [[romance languages]] in the 7th century CE following the collapse of the Empire's west.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Carlton |first=Charles Merritt |date=1973 |title=A linguistic analysis of a collection of late Latin documents composed in Ravenna between A.D. 445–700 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/9783111636221 |doi=10.1515/9783111636221 |isbn=9783111636221 |quote="page 37. According to Pei & Gaeng (1976: 76–81), the decisive moment came with the Islamic conquest of North Africa and Iberia, which was followed by numerous raids on land and by sea. All this had the effect of disrupting connections between the western Romance-speaking regions. |access-date=17 August 2023 |archive-date=10 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240310115400/https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783111636221/html |url-status=live }}</ref>

The dominance of Latin and Greek among the literate elite obscure the continuity of other spoken languages within the Empire.<ref name=miles/> Latin, referred to in its spoken form as [[Vulgar Latin]], gradually replaced [[Celtic languages|Celtic]] and [[Italic languages]].<ref>{{Harvp|Rochette|2012|p=550}}; {{Cite book |last=Zimmer |first=Stefan |chapter=Indo-European |date=2006 |title=Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia |publisher=ABC-Clio |page=961}}</ref><ref name="curchin">{{Cite journal |last=Curchin |first=Leonard A. |date=1995 |title=Literacy in the Roman Provinces: Qualitative and Quantitative Data from Central Spain |journal=The American Journal of Philology |volume=116 |issue=3 |doi=10.2307/295333 |pages=461–476 (464)|jstor=295333 }}</ref> References to interpreters indicate the continuing use of local languages, particularly in Egypt with [[Coptic language|Coptic]], and in military settings along the Rhine and Danube. Roman [[jurist]]s also show a concern for local languages such as [[Punic language|Punic]], [[Gaulish language|Gaulish]], and [[Aramaic]] in assuring the correct understanding of laws and oaths.{{Sfnp|Rochette|2012|pp=558–559}} In [[Africa (Roman province)|Africa]], Libyco-Berber and Punic were used in inscriptions into the 2nd century.<ref name="miles">{{Cite book |last=Miles |first=Richard |chapter=Communicating Culture, Identity, and Power |date=2000 |title=Experiencing Power: Culture, Identity and Power in the Roman Empire |publisher=Routledge |isbn=0-415-21285-5 |pages=58–60}}</ref> In [[Syria (Roman province)|Syria]], [[Palmyra|Palmyrene]] soldiers used their [[Palmyrene dialect|dialect of Aramaic]] for inscriptions, an exception to the rule that Latin was the language of the military.{{Sfnp|Adams|2003|p=199}} The last reference to Gaulish was between 560 and 575.<ref>''Hist. Franc.'', book I, 32 ''Veniens vero Arvernos, delubrum illud, quod Gallica lingua Vasso Galatæ vocant, incendit, diruit, atque subvertit.'' And coming to Clermont [to the [[Arverni]]] he set on fire, overthrew and destroyed that shrine which they call Vasso Galatæ in the Gallic tongue,</ref><ref name="Helix">{{Cite book |last=Hélix |first=Laurence |title=Histoire de la langue française |date=2011 |publisher=Ellipses Edition Marketing S.A. |isbn=978-2-7298-6470-5 |page=7 |quote=Le déclin du Gaulois et sa disparition ne s'expliquent pas seulement par des pratiques culturelles spécifiques: Lorsque les Romains conduits par César envahirent la Gaule, au 1er siecle avant J.-C., celle-ci romanisa de manière progressive et profonde. Pendant près de 500 ans, la fameuse période gallo-romaine, le gaulois et le latin parlé coexistèrent; au VIe siècle encore; le temoignage de Grégoire de Tours atteste la survivance de la langue gauloise.}}</ref> The emergent [[Gallo-Romance languages]] would then be shaped by Gaulish.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Guiter |first=Henri |chapter=Sur le substrat gaulois dans la Romania |date=1995 |title=Munus amicitae. Studia linguistica in honorem Witoldi Manczak septuagenarii |publisher=Krakow |editor-last=Bochnakowa |editor-first=Anna |editor-last2=Widlak |editor-first2=Stanislan}}; {{Cite book |last=Roegiest |first=Eugeen |title=Vers les sources des langues romanes: Un itinéraire linguistique à travers la Romania |date=2006 |publisher=Acco |page=83}}; {{Cite book |last=Savignac |first=Jean-Paul |title=Dictionnaire Français-Gaulois |date=2004 |publisher=La Différence |page=26}}; {{Cite journal |last=Matasovic |first=Ranko |date=2007 |title=Insular Celtic as a Language Area |journal=Papers from the Workship within the Framework of the XIII International Congress of Celtic Studies |page=106 |agency=The Celtic Languages in Contact}}; {{Cite book |last=Adams |first=J. N. |title=The Regional Diversification of Latin 200 BC – AD 600 |url=https://archive.org/details/regionaldiversif600adam |date=2007 |isbn=978-0-511-48297-7 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/regionaldiversif600adam/page/n300 279]–289 |chapter=V – Regionalisms in provincial texts: Gaul |doi=10.1017/CBO9780511482977 |url-access=limited}}</ref> [[Proto-Basque language|Proto-Basque]] or [[Aquitanian language|Aquitanian]] evolved with Latin loan words to modern [[Basque language|Basque]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Trask |first=R. L. |title=The history of Basque |date=1997 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=0-415-13116-2 |oclc=34514667}}</ref> The [[Thracian language]], as were several now-extinct languages in Anatolia, are attested in Imperial-era inscriptions.{{Sfnp|Treadgold|1997|pages=5–7}}<ref name=miles/>

{{Multiple image|perrow=2|total_width=340
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| image1    = Dendera Tempel Nordtor 09.jpg
| image2    = Roman Emperor Domitian on the Northern gate of Dendera Temple, Egypt.jpg
| footer    = "Gate of Domitian and [[Trajan]]" at the northern entrance of the [[Dendera Temple complex|Temple of Hathor]], and Roman emperor [[Domitian]] as [[Pharaoh of Egypt]] on the same gate, together with [[Egyptian hieroglyphs]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bard |first=Kathryn A. |title=Encyclopedia of the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt |date=2005 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-66525-9 |pages=252–254 |language=en}}; {{Cite book |last=Bard |first=Kathryn A. |title=An Introduction to the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt |date=2015 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-0-470-67336-2 |page=325 |language=en}}</ref>
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