Expert: Irulan Serena - 9/2/2005

Question
It is my understanding that the daily language of much of the Roman Empire including Rome was a Greek dialect called Koine.  In the army, the language was Latin.  If I am correct, can you explain why the difference?

Also, Josephus wrote in Greek.  Was it Koine or classical?

Thanks

Answer
Hello Marvin,

In the classical or Hellenic period the Greek language was consisted of several main dialects, but the most dominant of these dialects was the one spoken in Athens, called Attic.   

Ionic—the form of the language spoken mainly in the Greek city states directly across the Aegean Sea from Athens—exerted significant influence on Attic  and eventually produced a dialect now called Attic-Ionic.

After the conquests of Alexander the Great (roughly 336-323 BCE) the language underwent far-reaching changes. Alexander carried the Attic-Ionic form of the language, along with Greek culture more generally, far into the Near East where it became the regular language of business exchanges and government, existing along side many local languages. Greek was adopted as a second language by the native people of these regions and was ultimately transformed into what has come to be called the Hellenistic Koiné or common Greek.  

Koine was born out of the military conquests of Alexander the Great.

First, his troops, came from Athens as well as other Greek cities and regions; they had to communicate with one another. This close contact produced a melting pot Greek that inevitable became an amalgamation of all dialects into a cohesive and comprehensive dialect  -  Koine.

Second, the conquered cities and colonies learned Greek as a second language, this further increased its merging into a widely spoken and understood language  -  Koine.
A dialect  becomes a language when it is widely spread / spoken and used by the inhabitants of an extensive geographical area and this was accomplished by Alexander's wide reaching conquests.

Koine Greek became the lingua Franca - common language -  of the whole Roman Empire by the first century AD.  Even after Rome became the world power in the first century BC, Greek continued to penetrate distant lands  largely due to Rome's policy of assimilation of cultures already in place, rather than destruction and replacement.

Koine became the language of daily life - commerce,  trade, export - import, farming, industrial exchanges, etc, in other words, the language spoken by the citizen of the towns, cities and villages for the purpose of conducting their daily living processes.

Latin, was originally the language of ancient Rome and the neighboring territory of Latium. With the spread of Roman power Latin was carried to every part of the known ancient world and became the dominant tongue of Western Europe.  Latin became the language of the military, government and politics, scholarship and diplomacy until the 18th century.

It is easy to assume that Josephus writings were meant for the common populace  because although Latin was the language for literature and all scholarly writings, Josephus wrote in Koine.

Regards,

Iru