5 ms·

It's interesting that while Latin spread across Western Europe (whether through conquest, commerce or religion), the eastern Mediterranean stubbornly held onto

• simiones 3y ago
  Given that the greek-speaking eastern half of the Roman Empire (the so-called Byzantine empire) went on for a thousand more years after the fall of the Western half, is it that surprising?
  • danjac 3y ago
    Sure, but the eastern half never adopted Latin to begin with, unlike the West.
    • goodbyesf 3y ago
      It's because latin was the official language of the catholic church and church services were carried out in latin while the greek orthodox church used local languages.
      • danjac 3y ago
        Greece was conquered by Rome in the 2nd century BC, i.e. 200 years before Christianity, let alone its Catholic and Orthodox variants.
        • inkyoto 3y ago
          Greek culture and language survived in a form of the Byzantine Empire (after the fall and the following decline of Rome) where Greek was the state, liturgy and predominantly spoken language. Even before the Great Schism of 1054, Greek had been the language used to spread Christianity across southern and eastern Europe, i.e. across the Slavs. Even though the bible was always translated into a local language, Greek retained its prominence in the local education, hence the historical dominance (as opposed to Latin which didn't come into light until after the Renaissance and the spread of the scientific thought all over Europe).