Over the course of its long and varied history, the Roman Empire was a richly complex society composed of many different people of varying nationalities. Because of this, it can be difficult to determine exactly which language the people of the ancient Roman Empire spoke (and wrote).

However, the most prominent and overriding language of the empire was undoubtedly Latin, which spread across much of the western Roman Empire as it grew and expanded exponentially. Meanwhile, Greek remained spoken by many, and was the more prevalent language as the Eastern faction of the Roman Empire grew. We take a closer look at the complex nature of language in ancient Rome.