Were the ancient Romans of Greek origin? Languages and peoples of the Roman Empire at the turn of our era

Greek, not Latin.

Lingua franca (lingua franca) - the language that two people use to communicate with each other when neither of them speaks their native language. Rome was the capital of a rapidly developing empire, a trading center for over a million people. And although the native language of Rome (the capital of the Lazio region) was Latin, the de facto lingua franca - the language used by everyone who bought, sold and generally wanted to be understood in this city - was Koine, or "common Greek".

Greek was also the predominant and most popular language among the educated elite. ancient rome. The refined Romans considered themselves the heirs of Greek culture. Virgil's "Aeneid" - an epic poem that tells the story of the founding of Rome - makes it clear that modern Rome grew out of mythical Greece - the one about which the great Homer wrote. Speaking Greek in the house of a Roman was considered obligatory.

Most of the literature read by the Roman high society was in Greek; the art, architecture, gardening, cooking, and fashion that the Romans admired were Greek; and most of the teachers and domestic servants were also from Greece.

Even when the Roman switched to Latin, it was not the classical Latin that we know. In conversation, the native Roman used a form of language called " Vulgar Latin". The word "vulgar" in this case does not carry any negative connotation, but simply means " folk". Classical Latin was a written language - used in courts, rhetoric and administrative purposes, but not for informal conversations. It was this everyday version that the Roman army carried across Europe, and it was “vulgar”, and not classical Latin, that gave rise to the Romance languages - Italian, French, Spanish.

"Vulgar Latin", by the way, was the everyday language only in Lazio, but not in the whole empire. The first language of the Eastern Empire formed around Constantinople and cities in Southern Italy was Greek. The name Naples (Latin: Neapolis) actually came from Greek(pea, "new", and polls, "city"). The local dialect of Naples, Neapolitan, still bears traces of the Greek language, and 30,000 inhabitants of southern Italy today speak Griko, a descendant of the Peloponnesian dialect. Griko and modern Greek are so close that the interlocutors can easily understand each other. It was Greek, not Latin, that was chosen for communication in the Mediterranean bazaars.

Initially, lingua franca was an Italian (not Latin) term for a special language in which Mediterranean merchants communicated with each other from the 11th to the 19th century. Based on Italian vocabulary, it combined elements of Provençal, Spanish, Portuguese, Greek, French and Arabic into a lively and flexible jargon that everyone spoke and understood.

Lingua franca does not mean " French»; the meaning of the term is "the language of the Franks". It goes back to the Arab habit of calling all Christians "Franks" (just as we once called all Muslims "Moors"). Franji is still a colloquial Arabic word for "people from the West".

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Historians completely ignore the existence of the Helleno-Romans, and continue to support the false dogmatic assertion of Charlemagne in 794 that the language of the Romans was and remains Latin, despite the fact that the sources indicate that the first language of the Romans was ancient Greek.

This historical falsification was put forward by Charlemagne in 794 with the aim of dividing the Romans, enslaved by the Franco-Latins, and the free Eastern Romans.

The French emperor Louis II (855-875) in 871 in a letter to the Roman emperor Basil Ι (867-885) fully supports the lie of Charlemagne: “... we have been given control of the Roman Empire for our right faith. The Greeks, because of their false belief, stopped ruling the Romans. They not only left the city (Rome) and the capital of the Empire, but also left the Roman people and even the Latin language. They moved to another capital, and now they have a different nationality and a different language.”

Let's compare these false claims with historical reality and with the process by which Rome conquered the entire Greek-speaking civilized world of that time.

The Hellenistic Romans appeared when all the Greek-speaking tribes living in Italy united. Aborigines who came here from Achaia (Greece) long before Trojan War, assimilated with the remnants of the Pelasgians who lived in Italy and almost disappeared from an unknown disease.

Mark Porcius Cato is the only one who mentions in the history of the Pelasgi tribe and their association with the natives, in the work De Origines, later Dionysius of Halicarnassus repeats his stories word for word.

The natives and Pelasgians united with the settlers from Troy, and so the ancient Latins arose - the inhabitants of the city of Alba Longa, speaking the ancient Greek language.

Part of the Greek-speaking Latins from Alba Longa, led by Romulus and Remus, founded Rome on the Palatine and Capitol hills. The Sabines from the Quirinal hill also took part in the founding of Rome, who moved to Italy from Laconia (Southern Greece).

The Romans (Romeans) continued to conquer and assimilate the rest of the Hellenic-Latins and Sabines.

Celtic tribes from the Danube invaded northern Italy and crushed the Etruscans who rebelled against Rome. The Celts defeated the Roman army and entered Rome in 390 BC. Only Capitol Hill was not conquered. All the Roman youth gathered there, guarding all the treasures and sacred texts of Rome. Having collected a large tribute, the Celts left Rome, and the Romans conquered all of northern Italy.

In addition, in 218 BC. the Romans conquered and included in their empire Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica, where the Helleno-Romans lived.

After the Celts, the biggest threat to the Romans was the Carthaginians, who, led by Hannibal, invaded Italy on their famous elephants, along with their Macedonian allies.

The Macedonians defeated the Greek allies of Rome. The Romans reached Spain in an attempt to defeat the Carthaginian army, and destroyed Carthage.

The Roman army marched into Greece to free their allies from the Macedonians and eventually captured Macedonia and annexed it to the Roman Empire.

Rome rushed to the aid of its allies, the Galatians and Cappadocians, and freed them from the Pontic king Mithridates VI (121/120-63 BC). The result was the annexation of Armenia, Assyria and Mesopotamia to the Roman Empire, so that its borders now extended to the shores of the Caspian Sea.

Thus, the Mediterranean Sea became an island in the center of the Roman Empire.

It should be emphasized that the Greek-Romans of Italy united the Greek-speaking tribes into one nation, which spoke both Greek and Latin.

The first Roman historians wrote in Greek, not Latin. Why?

The first four Roman chroniclers wrote in Greek: Quintus Fabius Pictor, Lucius Cincius Aliment, Gaius Acilius, and Albinus.

The first text written in archaic Latin was the Code of the Twelve, written in 450 BC. exclusively for the plebeians. And generations of Greeks continued to observe their secret laws, which were passed down with mother's milk.

This happened because the Roman popular laws were created by aristocrats in cooperation with representatives of the plebeians. Over time this big number plebeians mastered the Greek language, that their representatives entered the ruling bodies of the Greek-speaking provinces of the Roman Empire.

The first Roman historians who wrote in Latin

According to Cicero, one of the first Romans to write texts in Latin were Sabina Claudius and Appius Claudius the Blind, who was consul in 307 and 296. BC. He delivered a speech in Latin in the Senate against the signing of a peace treaty with King Pyrrhus of Epirus.

The first Roman historians to write in Latin were Porcius Cato (234-140 BC) and Lucius Cassius Chemin (c. 146 BC).

What language did the Romans speak and write? Of course, in Greek

All of the above is consistent with the general principles of the Romans. All Roman historians simply repeated what was written in the Roman Sacred Chronicles, of which nothing has survived.

Although something may have been preserved, it is kept secret so that the lies of Charlemagne can continue to exist ...

Ioannis Romanides

Page: 49

A hundred of something is a much rarer phenomenon than you might think. English language, if you dig deep, has a number system more duodecimal than decimal. That's why they speak English eleven(eleven) ( endleofan, which means "ope left","one left") and twelve(twelve) ("two left","two remain") instead of tenty-one(ten one) and tenty-two(ten two). Old English word for "a hundred"(one hundred) was hund, but these "hunds" were three different types: hund teatig(one hundred "tenty"- 100), hund endleofantig(one hundred "eleventy"- 110) and hund twelftig(one hundred "twelfty"- 120). This went on for many centuries. Expression "a great hundred" meant 120 up to and including the 16th century, and "hundredweight" -"English hundredweight", a measure of weight, equal today to 112 pounds, once meant 120 pounds.

Coincidentally, each legion of the Roman infantry had a detachment of cavalry (much less significant in terms of combat). And in each legion there were exactly 120 cavalrymen.

What language was mostly spoken in Ancient Rome?

in Greek, not in Latin.

lingua franca(lingua franca) - the language that two people use to communicate with each other when neither of them speaks their native language. Rome was the capital of a rapidly developing empire, a trading center for over a million people. And although the native language of Rome (the capital of the Lazio region) was Latin, the actual lingua franca - the language used by everyone who bought, sold and generally wanted to be understood in this city was koine, or "common Greek".

Greek was also the predominant and most popular language among the educated elite of ancient Rome. The refined Romans considered themselves the heirs of Greek culture. Virgil's "Aeneid" - an epic poem that tells the story of the founding of Rome - makes it clear that modern Rome grew out of mythical Greece - the one about which the great Homer wrote. It was considered obligatory to speak Greek in the house of a Roman. Most of the literature read by the Roman high society was in Greek; the art, architecture, gardening, cooking, and fashion that the Romans admired were Greek; and most of the teachers and domestic servants were also from Greece.

Even when the Roman switched to Latin, it was not the classical Latin that we know. In conversation, the native Roman used a form of the language called "Vulgar Latin". The word "vulgar" in this case does not carry any negative connotation, but simply means "folk". Classical Latin was a written language - used in courts, rhetoric and administrative purposes, but not for informal conversations. It was this everyday version that the Roman army carried across Europe, and it was “vulgar”, and not classical Latin, that gave rise to the Romance languages - Italian, French, Spanish.

Vulgar Latin, by the way, was everyday language only in Lazio, but not in the whole empire. The first language of the Eastern Empire that formed around Constantinople and the cities in southern Italy was Greek. The name Naples (in Latin: Neapolis actually came from Greek (pea,"new" and polis, "city"). Local dialect of Naples, Neapolitan, still bears traces of the Greek language, and 30,000 inhabitants of southern Italy today speak grico - descendant of the Peloponnesian dialect. Griko and modern Greek are so close that the interlocutors can easily understand each other. It was Greek, not Latin, that was chosen for communication in the Mediterranean bazaars.

Initially lingua franca was an Italian (not Latin) term for a special language in which Mediterranean merchants communicated between themselves from the 11th to the 19th centuries. Based on Italian vocabulary, it combined elements of Provençal, Spanish, Portuguese, Greek, French and Arabic into a lively and flexible jargon that everyone spoke and understood.

Lingua franca does not mean "French"; the meaning of the term is "the language of the Franks". It goes back to the Arab habit of calling all Christians "Franks" (just as we once called all Muslims "Moors"), Franji is still a colloquial Arabic word describing "people from the West".

Where is english state language?

There are many countries where English is the official state language, but England, Australia and the USA are not included in this list.

Lingua franca is the language that two people use to communicate with each other when neither of them speaks their native language. Rome was the capital of a rapidly developing empire, a trading center for over a million people. Although the native language of Rome was Latin, the de facto lingua franca - the language used by everyone who bought, sold and generally wanted to be understood in this city - was Koine, or "common Greek".

Greek was also the predominant and most popular language among the educated elite of ancient Rome. Refined Romans considered themselves the heirs of Greek culture. Virgil's "Aeneid" - an epic poem that tells the story of the founding of Rome - makes it clear that modern Rome grew out of mythical Greece - the one about which the great Homer wrote. It was considered obligatory to speak Greek in the house of a Roman.

Most of the literature read by the Roman high society was in Greek; art, architecture, gardening, cooking and fashion, which the Romans admired, were Greek; and most of the teachers and domestic servants were also from Greece.

Even when the Roman switched to Latin, it was not the classical Latin that we know. In conversation, the native Roman used a form of language called " Vulgar Latin". The word "vulgar" in this case does not carry any negative connotations, but simply means " folk". Classical Latin was a written language—used for courts, rhetoric, and administrative purposes, but not for informal conversations. It was this everyday version that the Roman army carried across Europe, and it was Vulgar, and not classical Latin, that gave rise to the Romance languages - Italian, French, Spanish.

"Vulgar Latin", by the way, was the everyday language only in Lazio, but not in the whole empire. The first language of the Eastern Empire formed around Constantinople and cities in Southern Italy was Greek. The name Naples actually comes from the Greek language. The local dialect of Naples, Neapolitan, still bears traces of the Greek language, and 30,000 inhabitants of southern Italy today speak Griko, a descendant of the Peloponnesian dialect. Griko and modern Greek are so close that the interlocutors can easily understand each other. It was Greek, not Latin, that was chosen for communication in the Mediterranean bazaars.

Initially, lingua franca was an Italian term for a special language in which Mediterranean merchants communicated between themselves from the 11th to the 19th century. Based on Italian vocabulary, it combined elements of Provençal, Spanish, Portuguese, Greek, French and Arabic into a lively and flexible jargon that everyone spoke and understood.

Lingua franca does not mean "French"; the meaning of the term is "the language of the Franks." It goes back to the Arab habit of calling all Christians "Franks". Franji is still a colloquial Arabic word for "people from the West".

What language did the Romans speak?

Everyone will quickly answer: in Latin. And they will be right, but only partly. The Romans spoke Latin, not the classical language taught in universities, but vulgar, vernacular Latin, so to speak, which was a fusion of Latin with many Italian, French, and words from other languages. And only statesmen at official events spoke pure Latin. The inhabitants of the eastern regions of the Roman Empire communicated exclusively in Greek, and up to the 4th century. Sometimes the Greek language was also used by the patricians.

Sources: zablugdeniyam-net.ru, sprashivalka.com, festival.1september.ru, istorya.ru, historic.ru

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A hundred of something is a much rarer phenomenon than you might think. The English language, if you dig deep, has a number system more duodecimal than decimal. That's why they speak English eleven(eleven) ( endleofan, which means "ope left","one left") and twelve(twelve) ("two left","two remain") instead of tenty-one(ten one) and tenty-two(ten two). Old English word for "a hundred"(one hundred) was hund, but these "hunds" were of three different types: hund teatig(one hundred "tenty"- 100), hund endleofantig(one hundred "eleventy"- 110) and hund twelftig(one hundred "twelfty"- 120). This went on for many centuries. Expression "a great hundred" meant 120 up to and including the 16th century, and "hundredweight" -"English hundredweight", a measure of weight, equal today to 112 pounds, once meant 120 pounds.

Coincidentally, each legion of the Roman infantry had a detachment of cavalry (much less significant in terms of combat). And in each legion there were exactly 120 cavalrymen.

What language was mostly spoken in Ancient Rome?

in Greek, not in Latin.

"Vulgar Latin", by the way, was the everyday language only in Lazio, but not in the whole empire. The first language of the Eastern Empire that formed around Constantinople and the cities in southern Italy was Greek. The name Naples (in Latin: Neapolis actually came from Greek (pea,"new" and polis, "city"). Local dialect of Naples, Neapolitan, still bears traces of the Greek language, and 30,000 inhabitants of southern Italy today speak grico - descendant of the Peloponnesian dialect. Griko and modern Greek are so close that the interlocutors can easily understand each other. It was Greek, not Latin, that was chosen for communication in the Mediterranean bazaars.

Where is English the official language?

There are many countries where English is the official state language, but England, Australia and the USA are not included in this list.