Lingue imperiali, lingue nazionali e il caso del latino

Latin always was the official language of the Roman world but, when the Republic gradually yet in a short period of time, changed to the Empire under Caesar Augustus, it never acquired the status of a so-called “Imperial language”. In linguistic matters the Roman Empire was tolerant and Latin never supplanted the other languages spoken in the territories ruled by Rome, in particular Greek, which always enjoyed the prestige of language of culture. Even after the fall of the Roman Empire, Latin fragmentarily survived even in the Near East, where Greek was the most spread cultural language. A precious witness of its late survival at the Byzantine court is represented by Constantine Prophyrogennetos’ Book De cerimoniis (Xth century).