page_title: Hellenization in the Byzantine Empire
section_title: Change of Imperial Administrative Language from Latin to Greek
hierarchical_section_title: Hellenization in the Byzantine Empire / Hellenizing impacts of Islamic expansion / Change of Imperial Administrative Language from Latin to Greek
caption_attribution_description: English: Heraclius. 610-641. AV Solidus (21mm, 4.42 g, 6h). Constantinople mint, 5th officina. Struck 610-613. Helmeted and cuirassed facing bust, holding cross
context_page_description: Hellenization in the Byzantine Empire describes the spread and intensification of ancient Greek culture, religion and language in the Byzantine Empire. The theory of Hellenization generally applies to the influence of foreign cultures subject to Greek influence or occupation, which includes the ethnic and cultural homogenisation which took place throughout the life of the Byzantine Empire.
context_section_description: The emergence of the Muslim Arabs of Arabia in the 640s was followed by the conquest of large swathes of the Byzantine Empire in its Southern and Latin-speaking provinces. This initial included those of Syria and Egypt to the Arab Caliphate.
  The rapid territorial expansion of the Arab Muslims since their initial emergence from Arabia in the 630s was under the Rashidun and Umayyad caliphs, and continued into the 11th century. The following decades were marked by continued aggrandizements which claimed parts of Asia Minor, Armenia and the conquering of the Byzantine Exarchate of Africa. In the Western territories, such as the Latin speaking Balkans, barbarian invasions marked the further decline of the Byzantine Latin-speaking regions. The rapidly declining Latin territories in the face of Islamic expansion and growing schismatic relationship between the Latin Roman West and Greek-speaking Byzantine East would inevitably lead to a renewed embracement and identification with Hellenistic culture and language.
  Further, at the height of before-mentioned Islamic acquisitions, the growing schismatic relationship between the Latin West and Byzantine East was marked by unprecedented anti-Latin sentiment in the 11th and 12th centuries. Intensifying hostility in the 12th century to Italian trade led to anti-Roman Catholic policies and marked a changing relationship with the Western Holy Roman Empire, ultimately leading to the replacement of Latin with Greek as Byzantium’s official Imperial administrative language. The zenith of this conflict and anti-Latinism is considered a byproduct of the process of Hellenisation taking place at the time, including the Byzantine Greek Renaissance, as seen in an event known as the Massacre of the Latins in April 1182.
caption: Byzantine Emperor Heraclius, pictured on a Byzantine Solidus coin, replacing the Roman Denarii in circulation in the Western Empire
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