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Reddit user: FrankCesco
Greek and Latin were the official languages in the Byzantine Empire. Although Latin was the official language until the 7th century AD, it was never as popular as Greek, since the population of the Eastern Roman Empire was mostly Greek-speaking. Emperor Heraclius decided to Hellenise his empire, by replacing Latin with ancient Greek. That shows how Greece conquered Rome in cultural terms, back in 146 B.C. Everyone knows that the Roman Empire conquered Greece, but for some reason, there is a common misconception that they also conquered Greece culturally as well, while it is vice versa.
Unlike Greek, which evolved and survived, ancient Latin slowly died, and the languages that derived from it, are fundamentally different to the point where modern Italian or Romanian are so different that no modern Italian or Romanian can understand a Latin text without proper ancient studies.
The question is why Latin changed so much, unlike Greek.
Latin changed a lot because only a few people are speaking it as a native tounge anymore. With the fall of the Western Empire, the East under Justinian will reconquer Italy but because of the long war, devasted the entire urban structure and only a few cities are left intact. With the coming of the lombards, and the massacre of many remaining italo-roman elites, Italy was left with only few Roman enclaves dependent on the increasingly Greek speaking Eastern Roman Empire. by the time of the 600s – 800s, these enclaves will become independent as Roman power wane due to arab conquest, raiding, and attacks as well as the on going Lombard expansion replacing or merging with the local inhabitants.
Only the Papal state will remain as the last bastion of Latin speakers, will make it the language of the Church, but it will also slowly change plenty of its pronunciation over time.
Latin changed a lot because only a few people are speaking it as a native tounge anymore. With the fall of the Western Empire, the East under Justinian will reconquer Italy but because of the long war, devasted the entire urban structure and only a few cities are left intact. With the coming of the lombards, and the massacre of many remaining italo-roman elites, Italy was left with only few Roman enclaves dependent on the increasingly Greek speaking Eastern Roman Empire. by the time of the 600s – 800s, these enclaves will become independent as Roman power wane due to arab conquest, raiding, and attacks as well as the on going Lombard expansion replacing or merging with the local inhabitants.
Only the Papal state will remain as the last bastion of Latin speakers, will make it the language of the Church, but it will also slowly change plenty of its pronunciation over time.