conquered most of the known world to the east of
Greece. In fact, he had led his armies to the borders of
India and conquered every country in his path. As
each country became a part of his empire, Alexander
made sure that the people learned about Greek
culture, Greek religion, and, most important, the
Greek language. The fusion of Greek culture and
language with other cultures was called “Hellenism.”
The term traces its roots to the name the Greeks had
for their country — Hellas. Thus, it was Alexander the
Great who “hellenized” the world and made the
Greek language the official language of the east.
When Byzantium became Constantinople, the
people there still spoke Greek. Even the people in the
small towns around the city spoke Greek. In fact,
the entire area spoke Greek. Latin remained,
however, the official imperial language,
and the clerks, officers, soldiers,
slaves, families, and
leaders, whom
Constantine
brought
with
him
from Rome,
spoke Latin. As
the new capital of
the Roman Empire,
Constantinople became a two-
language city. There, the Latin-speaking
Roman government joined with the Greek-
speaking world of Christianity and Greek
culture. Gradually, Latin became less popular
in Constantinople.
‘Goodbye’ to Latin
By the seventh century, very few people in the east
used Latin. Only government officials and military
leaders needed to know the language, and they
typically translated everything into Greek. A closer
look at Rome at this time shows that it had lost most
of its power and that Greek had become the universal
language in the east for both the government and
the church. It was also true that Constantinople now
faced many enemies coming from the east and the
north. To survive, the emperor and generals had to
communicate with each other quickly. As few people
actually used Latin any more, writing and speaking
it became a problem.
In 629C.E., the emperor Heraclius decided that it
was time for a change. The Romans had always called
their emperors Augustus and Imperator (Latin for
“commander”). Heraclius changed these titles and
started calling himself and all emperors by the Greek
word Basileus, which means “sovereign” or “emperor.”
This new title permanently changed the language of
the empire from Latin to Greek. It was a change that
had been happening over a long time period of time.
No longer was anyone looking to Rome for leadership.
The city and its power had come to a close. Now,
Constantinople and the Greek language controlled the
Roman Empire. Hellenism, the Christian church, and
the Greek language replaced Roman culture and Latin.
That the Empire would continue was certain, but it
would do so through Constantinople.Anthony Hollingsworth is a professor of Classical languages at
Roger Williams University and an avid reader of and author for
DIG Into History magazine.