Why The Byzantines Spoke Greek Instead of Latin

In this video, we explain why the Byzantine Empire spoke Greek instead of Latin, despite being Romans.

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Music by Kevin MacLeod. Available under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license:
Songs:
The Pyre
Teller of The Tales

Picture Sources

[that]

The influence of the Greek language overtime is very impressive.

[MsLoucile]

"Rome conquered Greece but Greece conquered Rome"

[CaptainHarlock-kvzt]

They were Greek and Hellenized people. That's why... By calling themselves Roman they didn't mean that they were Roman by ethnicity. Medieval Greeks(aka Byzantines) saw themselves as the inheritors of the glorious Greco-Roman civilization.

[alexisgateley]

Greek had deep roots in Rome, note that the "father of Latin literature" was Livius Andronikos a Greek from the 3rd century BC, also the first history of Rome was written in Greek, etc.

[rayyansobrany]

Greek was like English, the dominat lingua Franca back then. It's intresting how it survived despite Greece being part of the Roman and Ottoman empire.

[johngurlides]

The Byzantines spoke Greek because, for the most part, they WERE Greek. The Greek people lived on both sides of the Aegean and even those who were not of Greek blood, living in the interior of Asia Minor, had been Hellenised since the time of Alexander the Great.

[sokxujx]

Not forgotten.... A lot of people were speaking Greek. Cicero said that Greeks conquered with their culture the Romans who were their conquerers.

[Stathube]

_"Graecia capta ferum victorem cepit et artis intulit agresti Latio"_

Horace

[annavsmith]

Fantastic Job, guys.
Ευχαριστώ πάρα πολύ

[papertoyss]

Fun Fact
Fall of Constantinople: 1453
Constantinople was renamed to Istanbul byt the Turks: 28th March 1930 (to eliminate Greek influence)
Etymology of Istanbul: "is tin Polin" (greek) = to the City / the City. The Greek Byzantines referred to Constantinople as "the City" (of cities).

[georgeevangel]

Because Alexander the Great settled that area with Greeks all the way to Afghanistan

[hiukas.]

Finally someone talked about this iteresting topic!
Thank you F.O.L, have a great day!

[vangelisskia]

"Constantine filled the streets, squares and museums of the new capital with ancient Greek artistic treasures to emphasize its Hellenism. The people of  Constantinople  who moved around the city every day, could never forget the glory of their GREEK HERITAGE".
Steven Runciman

[ermioniburgess]

Romans became slaves to Greek culture.They adopted everthing from greek to the Romans.The Romans stole whole temples a d statutes and columns from Greece and take them to Rome.Also the the old testement translated to Greek in 300 BC in Alexandria.Many Jews also Hellenism.But Greeks establish colonies as as Crimea.Thats why they have cities with greek names such as Sebastopol

[ACGreyhound]

The dividing line between the Eastern Roman Empire and Western Roman Empire was not an accident. Every time the Empire was cut in half, from Diocletian to the successors of Constantine, the same basic line was used, corresponding roughly to the line between the areas where Latin was the dominant language of administration (Italy, Gaul, Spain, Britain, Northwest Africa), and those where Greek predominated (Greece, the Balkans, Anatolia, Syria, Mesopotamia, Egypt).

[limnmark]

There are Greek colonies far north in Italy than those maps show. For example Ancona, from the Greek word "Ανκών " that means "Elbow". Even Rome is a Greek word that means "Power"

[vag_grig]

If you see a map of the Greek colonies and then see a map of the Byzantine empire, you can understand why the Greeks had so much influence in the Eastern Roman empire, Constantinople itself was a Greek colony before it actually became Constantinople.
To me, Byzantium was a "Greek Rome".

[aarengraves]

I always laugh when someone says "they were not greek they were just speaking greek"

Well the language is the most important aspect in someone's culture. The Α and the Ω. Without it, you are a zero

[te]

Greek have been a secondary language to Rome and the Romans since the Kingdom of Rome, Latium and the Etruscans back then. In fact Magna Graecia was south of the Italian peninsula were the majority were all Greeks and not to mention the greek colonies of Iberia and Gaul (in Marseille in 600 BCE). Plus Greek back then was the preferred language of trade throughout the Diadochi kingdoms, Colonies and the Levant. So it is very likely that Romans spoke the language as well in their schools, forums and elsewhere.
But amazing video nonetheless. :)

[slavdefendov]

Love Greeks .
Love from Serbia.
🇷🇸☦🇬🇷