/lit/ - Literature

>>16446771
Remember when Greek used to be the lingua franca ? It was the language of the elites, the educated and of business.

Greek lasted for for 1700 years in the ancient civilized world thanks to Alexander the Great, Greek allowed us to understand Ancient Egyptian, Greek was the first language to be used to translate the Bible, all important intellectual works were written in Greek.

Yet it just disappeared, Nobody spoke it in europe anymore when the Western Roman Empire fell, and nobody spoke it in Asia anymore when the Byzantine fell.

Just imagine yourself being an educated and wealthy Greek in 200ad, what if someone would tell you that the next lingua franca would be a germanic tongue mixed with celtic, would you believe him ?