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What if the rise of Rome had been stopped? What if the Samites or Pius or Hannibal had dealt the Republic a fatal blow and the Roman Empire never formed? It could have happened. It almost did. If it had, among countless other consequences, Latin would never have spread across Europe. Let's take a quick linguistic tour of Europe in 200 BC when Latin was still confined to central Italy. Greek was widely spoken south of Naples. There are a few villages in Pulia and Calabria that still speak Greek today. Oscan and
Umbrean, cousins of Latin, were more widely used than Latin itself. Pompei, for example, was an Oscan-speaking city. At Ruskin, that mysterious non-indo-uropean language was spoken in Tuskanyany through the reign of Augustus. North of the Aanines around modern Milan and Bolognia, the dominant language was Celtic. Celtic languages were spoken across a vast swath of central and northern Europe. In Spain, Celtic mingled with Iberian, which may have been related to modern Bosque and with the Punic language of the Carthaginians. In southern Gaul, thanks to Greek colonies along the French Riviera, Greek was widespread. The coins issued by Golic chieftains often used the Greek
alphabet. Farther north, according to Caesar's commentaries, the rine separated the Gauls from the Germans. In fact, German and Celtic speaking tribes lived on both sides of the river. The Germanic tribes were newcomers in 200 BC, having spread gradually southward from their homelands in what are now northern Germany and Denmark. Their migrations would continue for another century and a half before they were stopped temporarily, as it turned out, by the Romans.
Celtic speakers could be found as far east as what is now central Turkey. Ankora, now the Turkish capital, was a Celtic tribal center. In southeastern Europe, Celtic tribes had settled in the Danube Valley. Singodunam, modern Belgrade, Serbia, was Celtic speaking until the Roman conquest in and around modern Bulgaria. Thrian languages were spoken. Dian related to Thrian was widely used north of the Danube in modern Romania, though the cities along the coast of the Black Sea spoke Greek. By 200 BC, the various dialects of Greek were converging on co, the common Greek of the New Testament. In the wake of Alexander's conquests, Greek had become a lingua frana from the Balkans to Afghanistan.
Both Roman and Carthaginian aristocrats learned it. When Hannibal and Scipiofricanis met, they conversed in Greek. Greek seemed poised to become the dominant language of Western Eurasia. Its trajectory was changed, however, by the unexpected rise of Latin. We'll discuss how Latin came to dominate Europe after a brief word about this video's sponsor. I slept in this bed for years. Unfortunately, it caks and groans all night. That's why I switched to the Flexaspot Japanese joinery bed, which has a rock solid frame that's absolutely silent.
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sons of local chieftains. Typically, however, the spread of Latin was organic. Provincial elites were motivated to learn the language by the benefits of alignment with the ruling power. The cities in which those elites congregated became engines of linguistic diffusion. The Roman army taught Latin to millions of recruits and settled veterans in farms and colonies near the frontiers. Roman merchants imported millions of slaves into Italy and the western provinces where they were compelled to learn their master's tongue. During late antiquity, the Latin Bible and Latin Mass spread to every corner of the Western Empire.
Latin, however, never supplanted Greek in the eastern provinces. Greek was simply too wellestablished and too prestigious to replace. Even in the Latin speaking half of the empire, local languages persisted. A quarter millennium after Caesar's conquest of Gaul, Errenaeus of Leon still had to learn Celtic to communicate with his flock. Half a millennium after the fall of Carthage, the young St. Augustine spoke Punic with his friends. Bretonic, the Celtic dialect used in Britain before the Romans arrived, was still the majority language when the Romans withdrew four centuries later.
Welsh is a direct descendant. In the light of these survivals, it's interesting to speculate about what the linguistic map of Europe might look like if the Romans had never spread Latin across the continent. Without Rome, Carthage would have expanded unchecked, establishing colonies and the Punic language in Spain and southern Gaul. If the Romans had never conquered them, the Celtic podies of Central and Northern Europe would likely have consolidated into kingdoms. Although migrating tribes might have scattered pockets of German from Gaul to the Balkans, Celtic languages would have remained dominant across much of the continent.
Without Roman intervention, finally, the Hellenistic Greek kingdoms would have remained viable much longer. If the legions had not defeated Antiochus III, for example, the Salucid Empire could have prevented the rise of Partha. Throughout Europe and well beyond, Greek would have become what English is now, the default second language of commerce and culture. Greek would likely have remained Europe's dominant language to the present day. Hundreds of millions would probably use some form of Celtic. A few geographically isolated languages like Bosque and Albanian might occupy much the same places they do now. And perhaps around the backwater Italian town of Rome, a few people would still speak some sort of Latin.
My final 2026 tour is now open. From November 3rd to 9th, I'll be leading a small group to the Bay of Naples. Besides Pompei and Hercilanium, we'll explore the city of Naples, the island of Capri, and a series of spectacular but seldom visited sites, including the cavern of the Cibil at Kumi, the tunnels beneath the Roman amphitheater of Putioli, and the magnificent villa of Poea. To learn more, follow the link on screen and in the description. My Egypt tour is sold out, but the tour operator is adding more spots. If you're interested, please add yourself to the wait list.
Spaces are still available on my Roman Spain and Following Alexander tours. You'll find links in the description. Please check out the Tollenstone Patreon. Don't forget my other two channels. And as always, thanks for watching.
