The Roman elite were fluent in Greek because it helped them in communication beyond the empire. For instance, Koine Greek was widely spoken and understood in the region of eastern Mediterranean and Asia Minor. While Latin remained the most important ancient Roman language in the region of present day Italy, many other languages were spoken in other regions of the empire. Throughout the history of the Roman Republic and Empire, Latin remained the dominant language although Greek was also a respectable language among the elite because most of the literature that they read was either in Greek or translated from it.Ī gravestone from ancient Rome. The language itself was also inspired by the Greek language.
This language relied little on the word order and conveyed meaning mainly through a system of affixes attached with word stems. Latin was the original language of Rome and remained the dominant language for many centuries. The history of Roman language Latin goes back to the early years of Rome. It was also the language of law and literature, although there was considerable difference between the Latin used in literature and the one used in everyday life. Latin was necessary for anyone seeking to play an important role in administration, politics, and military. Latin in particular was the official language of the empire because it was the original language of Rome. However, two major languages of the empire were Latin and Greek. This meant many languages were spoken through different places of the Empire. The Ancient Roman Empire was a vast empire with people from different ethnicities speaking different languages.