1. Roman - Local languages and linguistic legacy
References to interpreters indicate the continuing use of local languages other than Greek and
Latin, particularly in Egypt, where Coptic predominated, and in military settings along the Rhine
and Danube. Roman jurists also show a concern for local languages such as Punic, Gaulish,
and Aramaic in assuring the correct understanding and application of laws and oaths. In
the province of Africa, Punic was used for legends on coins during the time of Tiberius (1st
century AD), and Punic inscriptions appear on public buildings into the 2nd century, some
bilingual with Latin. In Syria, Palmyrene soldiers even used theirdialect of Aramaic for
inscriptions, in a striking exception to the rule that Latin was the language of the military.
The Babatha Archive is a suggestive example of multilingualism in the Empire. These papyri,
named for a Jewish woman in the province of Arabia and dating from 93 to 132 AD, mostly
employ Aramaic, the local language, written in Greek characters with Semitic and Latin
influences; a petition to the Roman governor, however, was written in Greek.
The dominance of Latin among the literate elite may obscure the continuity of spoken languages,
since all cultures within the Roman Empire were predominantly oral. In the West, Latin, referred
to in its spoken form as Vulgar Latin, gradually replaced Celtic and Italic languages that were
related to it by a shared Indo-European origin. Commonalities in syntax and vocabulary
facilitated the adoption of Latin.Basque, not an Indo-European language, survived in the region
of the Pyrenees.
Although Greek continued as the language of the Byzantine Empire, linguistic distribution in the
East was more complex. A Greek-speaking majority lived in the Greek peninsula and islands,
western Anatolia, major cities, and some coastal areas. Like Greek and Latin, the Thracian
language was of Indo-European origin, as were several now-extinct languages in Anatolia
attested by Imperial-era inscriptions. Various Afroasiatic languages—primarily Coptic in Egypt,
and Aramaic in Syria and Mesopotamia—were never replaced by Greek. The international use of
Greek, however, was one factor enabling the spread of Christianity, as indicated for example by
the use of Greek for the Epistles of Paul 23 June 2014 Monday
