"It should be a sobering thought, however, to any triumphalist impulse that in 100 AD Latin looked set to dominate its slice of the world forever." The winner

"It should be a sobering thought, however, to any triumphalist impulse that in 100 AD Latin looked set to dominate its slice of the world forever." The winner of the "Top Language of 100 AD" should go to Chinese circa 100 A.D. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-Xenic http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-Xenic The following languages are heavily influenced by written chinese: Korean http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanja http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanja Japanese http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanji http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanji Vietnamese http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnamese_language http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnamese_language As well as a variety of other languages (though the regions where they are from are now considered part of China): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_characters#Other_languages http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_characters#Other_langua... Moderately influenced: Mongolian http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongolian_language http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongolian_language Thai http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_language http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_language Here is a picture of Han China and Roman Empire circa 100 A.D. http://www.roman-empire.net/maps/empire/extent/rome-china-comparison.html http://www.roman-empire.net/maps/empire/extent/rome-china-co... Written Chinese still dominate its slice of the world. While not all chinese are conversant with Standard Mandarin, (I am not), almost all of them can read and write chinese.