polyglots in roman antiquity. writing socio-cultural

7

ISSN0258-0802LITERATŪRA201355(3)

POLYGLOTS IN ROMAN ANTIQUITY WRITING SOCIO-CULTURAL HISTORY BASED ON ANECDOTES

Christian LaesAssociate Professor of Latin and Ancient HistoryFree University of Brussels University of Antwerp

Vix discit homo duas aut tres aut per magistros aut per regiones in quibus versatur aliqua consuetudine ut multum tres aut quattuor linguas

AugustinusSermo162A11

So solo che quando ascolto una parola in una lingua diversa non la dimentico piugraveCardinalGiuseppeMezzofanti(1774ndash1849)

1 Heinrich Schliemann a latin testimony on polyglotism

No doubt Heinrich Schliemann would have been honoured to figure in the titleofthefirstpartofthisarticleIndeedtheoften contested archaeologist ndash ldquoHero orFraudrdquo as stated in a contribution on his discovery of the treasure of Troy1 ndash boast-edofhismasteryofseverallanguagesHisbiography by Ernst Meyer cites 22 lan-guagesstudiedbySchliemannthroughouthis life (a lsquoMithradatic numberrsquo to which I will refer in the conclusion of this paper)2 Schliemannrsquos prose in various modern lan-guageshassurvivedinlettersanddiariesWeevenhavelettersinancientGreekad-

1 Easton(1998)2 Meyer(1969)443Besidesthelanguagesmen-

tioned in the Latin Vita Meyer cites German and Low German(nativelanguages)ChineseSlavonicDanishHebrew Persian Turkish Hindi-Urdu

dressed to scholars Greeks and Turkish officials3

In 1869 after he hadmade a fortunein theCaliforniangoldrush (1850ndash1852)after stays in Russia (1852ndash1856) wherehe had made yet another quick fortune as a military contractor in the CrimeanWar and after extensive travels in the Orient (1864)thesuccesfulbusinessmanandau-todidact submitted two works in order to obtainthedegreeofDoctorofPhilosophyat the University of Rostock a published French report of his oriental travels and a published French translation of his archae-ologicalresearchinIthacathePeloponne-susandTroyAlongwiththesetwoFrenchbooks Schliemann submitted Greek and Latin versions of the autobiography thatintroduced the Ithaca publication Two classical scholars from Rostock who were

3 The Schliemann letters are edited by Meyer (1953and1958)

Stra ipsnia i

8

appointed to judge the proposal foundthe research interesting independent andho nest and the candidatersquos mastery of French praiseworthyWhile the Latin ofthe Vita was considered satisfactory the ancient Greek was judged as appallingThis text was severely criticised there was notasinglesentencewithoutanerroranditoughtnevertohavebeensubmitted4Bethisasitmaybeon27April1869Hein-

4 Details edition and commentary on the Latin Vita are in Calder III (1974) See alsoAlbert (1996)501ndash502

rich Schliemann was granted the degreeof Philosophiae Doctor Artiumque Liber-alium Magister ndash PhD and MA at once

Schliemannrsquos Latin Vita is both an ex-ample par excellence of self-representation and a remarkable story about the acquisi-tionofmultilingualskillsandisthereforeworthquotingmorefully

The following table chronologicallylists the various languages he studiedas well as the sometimes curious details Schliemann inserted about his motivation forlearninganewlanguageorthewayheacquired his skills

Year Language Quote Remarks observations

1832 Latin Quum Kalkhorsti () puer decem anno-rumpatrimeodonuminChristinatalitiaannomillesimooctingentesimotricesimosecundo commentariolum lingua latinamale scriptum offerrem de rebus maxime memorabilibusbelloTrojanogestisetdeUlyssis et Agamemnonis variis quibusjactatisuntcasibus()

ApparentlySchliemannwastaughtLatinfromanearlyagebyhisfa-ther who was a Protestant minister The Christmas present is men-tioned in the Vita as a prodigium 36yearslatertheten-year-oldboywho wrote the tale was to see the placeoftheTrojanwarandthefa-therland of his cherished heroes

1836 Ancient Greek(firstacquaintance with)

Sorte sua non contentus adolescens ebri-ositati se dediderat quod vere vi tium non effecit ut Homeri oblivisceretur recitabat enim nobis fere centum versus observans numerum Quamvis ne verbum quidem eorumintelligeremtamenhacdulceso-nanti linguavehementercommovebaretamaras de misera mea sorte profundebam lacrimas

At age fourteen circumstancesforced Schliemann to leave school and to become an apprentice at a grocery His passion for Homerwas born when he heard a drunk-ard reciting Homeric verses Hepaid the fellow three bottles of brandy to hear him recite these verses three times

1842 English(insix months)

Quae ratio in eo consistit ut multum clara voce legamus numquam conversionesfaciamus quoque die una schola utamur ut semper de rebus quae nos delectant commentemur ut commentariola inspic-ientemagistroemendemuseaediscamuset ad verbum ea postero die recitemus quae priore emendavimus Memoria mea minuta erat quia a puero eam non exer-cueram sed omne tempus in usum meum convertebam()numquamnisilegensadcursorem publicum exspectans stabam

Workingasamessengerasofficeattendant and later as a bookkeep-er in Amsterdam bare necessity (necessitas)wasSchliemannrsquosfirstand foremost motivation to learn English The method he desribesis very much that of tireless ef-fortsmemorisingdailyrepetitionimitationandlanguagebathsThepre sence of a teacher is required

9

1842 French (in six months)

TumrationemmeamadstudiumlinguaeFrancogallicae cujus difficultates sexmensibus pluribus superavi

Since no further details are of-fered the method was presumably the same as that he used learningEnglish

1842ndash1846

Dutch Spanish Italian Portuguese(each in six months)

Quae effusa contentio anni spatio me-moriammeam itafirmaverat ut studiumlinguae Batavae Hispanicae Italicaeet Lusitanicae facillimum mihi esse vi-deretur neque opus erat ut plus temporis quam sex menses impenderem

Again Schliemannrsquos stress is onmemorisingHedoesnotmentionobserving linguisticsimilarities instructure or vocabulary between theseRomanlanguages

1846 Russian Itaque solus ad studium huius linguaeme accinxi et duce grammatica paucisdiebus litteras Russicas earumque pro-nuntiationem didici Incepi tum veterem meam sequi rationem ex qua quas ipse composueram historiolas perscriberem et ediscerem Quum nemo mihi adesset qui pensa mea emendaret foeda esse de-bebant()Conduxiigitur()pauperemIudaeum qui quaque vespera veniret auditurus duas per horas Russicas meas declamationes qua rum ne unam quidem syllabam comprehendebat

Business (negotia) isgivenashisfirst motivation for learning Rus-sianForthefirsttimeSchliemannmentions theproblemofnotfind-ing a teacher In Amsterdam hewasonlyabletofindanoldgram-mar book a dictionary and a bad translation of the adventures of Telemachus Schliemann was well aware that this study without the example of a (native) speaker would turn out to be a failure He proceeded with telling stories inRussian to himself Hence the rather funny event with the Jew who surely was not the only person to be blamed for them not under-standingeachother

1846 Russian (continued)

Quae vero molestiae ardorem meum adeo non minuerunt ut tribus hebdomadis per-actis primam meam scribe rem epistolam ad Russum quendam Londini versantem etiamfirmamassecutuseramfacilitatemfamiliari sermone cum mercatoribus Rus-sicis colloquendi qui ad indicum venden-dum Amstelodamum venerant

Owing to his declamationsSchliemann had to move twice since the noise disturbed the other inhabitants of the house in which he rented his room Despite all thesedifficultiestheresultsofhisstudy seem to have been even more successfulthanhisformerlanguageefforts a Russian letter after three weeks and conversations with Russian merchants in Amsterdam

From 1846 on

Literature of the languagesacquired

Quum linguae Russicae studium ab-solvissem serio operam dare incepi liter-arum monumentis earum quas didiceram linguarum

Schliemann seems to have been

very satisfied with his Russianprogress (absolvissem really sug-gestsfinishing)Toabusinessmanthepracticalspeakingandwritingability clearly comes before study-ingliterature

10

1854 Swedish Polish

() sed primis octo vel novem quibus in Russiadegebamannisnegotiis itaobru-tuseramutstudiumlinguarumpersequinon possem et demum anno 1854 nihilme impedivitquin linguamSuedicametPoloniam discerem

Apparently business comes before languagestudy

1856 Modern Greek (six weeks)

Quantocunque Graecae linguae discen-dae tenebar desiderio studium ejus nonprius aggredi ausus sum quam certamquandam fortunarum assecutus essem possessionem timens ne haec linguanimis me delectaret atque a mercatura abalienaret Tandem vero quum discendi cupiditati resistere amplius non possem menseJanuario1856hocstudiumfortiteraggressus sum primum cumN Pappa-dace tum cum Th BimpoAtheniensi-bus veterem meam semper persequens rationem Non plus quam sex impendi hebdomades ad superandas neograecaelinguaedifficultates

Again business-related causesare offered ndash this time to explain Schliemannrsquos lateness in studyingthelanguagehelovedsomuchHismethod had remained the same and for the first time his teachersare explicitly mentioned

1856 Ancient Greek

Tummeadveterislinguaestudiumappli-cui quam tribus mensibus satis didici ut nonnullos veterum scriptorum imprimis Homerum intelligere possim quem legietrelegivivoanimopermotus

For Ancient Greek only the abili-ty to understand and read texts (of course mainly Homer) is men-tionedTheshortspanof learningisenoughtoputpresent-dayclas-siciststoshamendashthoughthewordssatis and nonnullos leave some room for interpretation

1856-1858

Ancient Greek literature

Tum per biennium omne fere studium po-sui in cognoscendis veterum graecarumliterarum monumentis et paene omnes veteres scriptores aliquoties Iliadem et Odysseam perscrutavi

Againtheenviousclassicistwon-ders what could be meant by read-ing laquonearly allraquo Greek authors atthisstage

1858 Arabic (ca one year)

Anno1858adii()Aegyptum()Usussum oblata mihi opportunitate linguaeLatinae discendae et tum desertum a Cairo usque ad Hierosolyma peragravivisi Petram perlustravi totam Syriam ut longiore fruerer linguae Arabicae usucujusaccuratioremmihiPetropoliparavicognitionem

As for skills in Arabic its practical useisstressedWedonotreallygetto know whether Schliemann read or wrote Arabic letters

11

2 What does it mean to be a polyglot

In more than one way Schliemannrsquos re-port raises the questions a present-day reader spontaneously asks when discuss-ing the subject of polyglotism in thepast(and nowadays)5 How did polyglots ac-quire their language skills in timeswhenhandbooks or native speakers were scarce To Schliemann both books and speakers teacherswereapparentlynecessaryButnotallpolyglotsneedthemInfactliteracyisnot even a condicio sine qua non In bor-derareasilliteratepeoplemanagetospeakseverallanguageswhicharehardlyrelated(AlbaneseSerbianandTurkishinBalkancountriesGypsiesnotseldommanage togetalonginfivelanguageswithoutwritingonendashjusttosticktoEuropeanexamples)

What does it mean to lsquoknowrsquo a lan-guageIntimesofworldtourismandmas-sive migration oral communication andgettingalongineverydayconversationareoftentreatedasthehallmarkoflsquoknowingrsquoa languageButhowdowedecideaboutthose languageswhich are not used any-more Surely in former centuries intel-lectualsmighthavevaluedtheknowledgeofgrammarandaccesstoliterarysourcesandculturalwealthasa sterlingachieve-ment while present-day language cer-tificatescarefullydistinguishbetweenac-tive and receptive competences between reading writing speaking and listeningskills (each divided into different levels of competence6) the everyday perception of

5 Erard(2012)isahighlyreadableandenjoyablebookonthephenomenonofpolyglottery

6 See for instancetheEuropeanLanguageQuali-ficationsdistinguishingbetweenunderstandingspeak-ingandwritingSeehttpeuropasscedefopeuropaeuenresourceseuropean-language-levels-cefr

onersquoslanguageskillsmightbemorecon-nected with impression management Asense of assertivity combined with a basic knowledge of vocabulary and grammarsurelyhelpsinfindingonersquoswayinafo-reign countryThere is a huge differencebetween introducingoneself in a conver-sationandkeepingthesamedialoguego-ingwhentheconversationpartnersdonotrespond in the way you expect them to do Of course the domain of the conversation also matters as scholars know who are perfectly able to discuss their speciality butfinditverydifficulttoordertheirfoodin a restaurant

BethatasitmaySchliemannusednotonlyhisdoctoraltitleandhisarchaeologi-cal successes but most certainly also his polyglotismasatooltoimpressNotonlythe academic community but also his fam-ily and friends ndash and later on the whole worldndashwouldbeamazedbythelanguageskills he pretended to possess For sure Schliemann was succesful in this imagebuilding as the myth about his submit-ting his whole Ph D inAncient Greekpersists in the EnglishWikipedia pagededicated to him

Schliemann was not the only famous polyglotinhistoryHistoricalsurveysun-cover a menagerie of polyglot scholarspoliticianskingsmissionariesexplorersand adventurers mostly from the Modern EraonwhenthevernacularlanguagesinEuropewereclassifiedvaluedandstudiedas intensively as Latin and Greek7 Yunus BeyinterpreteranddragomantoSuleimanthe Magnificent (1494ndash1566) is said to

7 Frijhoff(2010)MaasVollmer(2005)VanHalIsebaert Swiggers (2013) Besides these very usefulsurveysthevolumesbyBurke(1993and 2004)arein-dispensable tools for social and cultural historians

12

havemasteredseventeenlanguagesWitheach visiting embassador from theWesthemanagedtospeakinhisownlanguageEmperorCharlesV(1500ndash1558)whowassaidtoknowfiveorsixlanguageshimselfadmired him as a prodigy8 During hislifetime Cardinal Mezzofanti (quoted inthe beginning of this article)was knownas ldquothe monster of languagesrdquo and ldquotheuniversal interpreterrdquowho ought to haveexistedatthetimeofthetowerofBabelHe was visited by dozens of tourists and students from all over the world he defeat-ed thepoetLordByron inamultilingualcontest andhemanaged to answer eachintheirownlanguageagroupofinterna-tionalstudentsbroughttogethertosurprisehimbyPopeGregoryXVReportsonhislanguage knowledge roughly range from38 between 40 and 50 even to 72 lan-guagesTheGermandiplomatinterpreterand sinologist Emil Krebs (1867ndash1930)wasdeniedtheextrasalarytheForeignOf-ficenormallygrantedforeachforeignlan-guageamemberof its staff could speaksince his mastery of about 70 (or 32 or 60ndashagain thenumbersdiffer) languageswould have made him a millionaire and would have been way too expensive for the state During his lifetime he passedgovernment tests in Chinese TurkishJapanese and Finnish Lists of famous hyperpolyglots in the past or still aliveare available on the internet (while six languages are considered theminimumamazing examples of over thirty or forty

8 Peeters (1935) 133 on Yunus Bey (the articlebyPeetersisremarkablesinceitoftenlinkspolyglot-ism with orientalism) Burke (2004) 45 and 113ndash115(Charles V and other polyglots in the ModernAge)Erard (2012) passim on Mezzofanti 170ndash183 (onKrebs)

are mentioned) demonstrations (and fail-ures) are on YouTube and on specialised websites neurologists even investigatethe matter European politicians like Joseacute ManuelBarroso(deg1956)takeprideintheirmastering themajorEuropean languagesAllthissuggeststhatpolyglotismandtheknowledgeofseverallanguagesisathingtobeproudofButhowwould thishavebeen for the ancient dossier

3 In search of ancient polyglots

In a survey of knowledge of lsquobarbaricrsquolanguagesintheancientauthorsStrobachconfidentlystatesthatreportsonlanguagegeniuses are quite frequent in ancient li-terature9 In fact if one assumes a mini-mumoffivelanguagesknownonlythreepersonsqualifyTheminimumoffiveac-cordswiththeremarkbySaintAugustinequotedinthebeginningofthisarticlethatthreeor four languageswouldalreadybeplenty for a person to learn In this paper I enhance the number a little bit beyond three polyglots but to the best of myknowledgethisisasfarasonegets

Though derived from the Greek theconceptofpolyglotismisnotreallyanan-cient one The Greek word often refers to oft-repeated or loud-voiced cries or is ap-pliedtothemany-tonguedvocaloracleofDodonaAninterestingpassageinthecon-textofthisarticleinvolvesthegodHermeswho claims to be not so πολύγλωττος asto be able to bring messages to ScythsPersians Thracians and Celts10 Latin dictionaries do not mention the loanword

9 Strobach (1997) 160ndash170 (dieKenntniss lsquoBar-barischerrsquoSprachen)withquoteonp160

10 Lucian Jup Trag 13

13

polyglota the authors preferred the word-ingmultarum linguarum gnarusperitus11

The Pontian King Mithradates theGreat(134ndash63bce)stillfiguresinthelistsoffamouspolyglotsinhistory12 The clas-sic account of his multilingual skills ap-pears in Pliny the Elder

Mithridates duarum et viginti gentiumrextotidemlinguisiuradixitprocontione singulassineinterpreteadfatus

(Plinius Maior Nat Hist788)

TellinglyMithradates ismentioned ina chapter dedicated to the marvels of hu-man memory13 the Persian king Cyruscould remember the names of all his sol-diers Cineas managed to memorise thenamesofallRomansenatorsandknightsone day after his arrival in Rome Lucius Scipio even knew the names of all Roman citizens while a certain Charmadas wasable to recite each single book volumewhichwasbroughttohimfromthelibrary

Inanotherpassage(book25onMedi-cine) Pliny mentions Mithradates as the greatestkingofhis timeHepraiseshimespecially for his knowledge of poisonantidotes and medicine ndash notices on this science were found by Pompey in Mithra-datesrsquoprivatelibraryafterhisfinaldefeatMasteryoflanguagesismentionedhereasone of the skillswhich enabled the kingjusttotrustinhimselfandtopreventcun-ningschemesfromhisenemies

11 The word does not appear in any Latin dictionary neitherforAntiquitynorfortheMiddleAgesTheonlyNeo-Latin lexicon which is prepared to accept polyglota asaneologismisJMirCCalvanoNuovo vocabolario della lingua latina (Milan1986)

12 Rochette(1993)223ndash22413 As does Quintilian Inst Or11250(alsomen-

tioningthenumberof22languages)

illum solum mortalium certum est XXIIlinguislocutumnecesubiectisgentibusullum hominem per interpretem appellatum abeoannisLVIquibusregnavit

(Plinius Maior Nat Hist256ndash7)

Gellius is even more explicit on Mith-radatesrsquolinguistictalentstressingthefactthat his mastery was on the native speak-ersrsquo level (gentilis referring to being acompatriot)

Mithridates autem Ponti atque Bithyniaerex inclutus qui a Cn Pompeio bello superatusestduarumetvigintigentium14 quassubdicionehabuit linguaspercalluitearumque omnium gentium viris hautumquam per interpretem conlocutus est sed ut quemque ab eo appellari usus fuit proindelinguaetorationeipsiusnonminusscite quam si gentilis eius esset locutusest

(Gellius NA 17172)15

As time goes by the legend and theexaggeration increase so as to reach thenumberoffiftylanguagesmentionedinthelate antique De viris illustribus

Mithridates rex Ponti oriundus a septem Persis magna vi animi et corporis utsexiuges equos regeret quinquagintagentiumoreloqueretur

(ps Aurelius Victor De vir illust761)

14 Thisis thereadingfromthecodices deteriores taken over by most modern editors on the basis of the accounts in Pliny and Quintilian However most Gellius codices read viginti quinque

15 See also Valerius Maximus Fact et dict mem 87ext16Cuius utriusque industriae laudem duo reges partiti sunt Cyrus omnium militum suorum nomina Mitridates duarum et xx gentium quae sub regno eius erant linguas ediscendo ille ut sine monitore exercitum salutaret hic ut eos quibus imperabat sine interprete adloqui posset ndash the chapter is on all sorts of virtuous industria of famous men

14

Uncertainty and a sort of deliberate vagueness about the exact numbers oflanguagesknown is a constant featureofstudiesonpolyglots throughout the agesAs such we do not need to bother whether Mithradatesknew2225or50languagesTrying to list these languages does notmake sense as the ancient authors them-selves never bothered to do so16 It may be noteworthy however that to ancient authors the region of Pontus was almostproverbiallymultilingual17

Immediately next after Mithradates andjustbeforeCyrus(knowingthenamesof all his soldiers) Quintilian mentions the triumvirLiciniusCrassus as awonderofhuman memory

vel Crassus ille dives qui cum Asiaepraeesset quinque Graeci sermonis differentias sic tenuit ut qua quisque apud eum lingua postulasset eadem ius sibiredditum ferret

(Quintilianus Inst Or11250)

ValeriusMaximusagaininhischapteron virtuous industriaalsomentionsCras-susrsquoversatilityinGreekdialectspointingtothepopularityhegainedwithit

Iam P Crassus cum in Asiam adAristonicum regem debellandum consuluenisset tanta cura Graecae linguaenotitiam animo conprehendit ut eam in

16 QuiteremarkablyMayor(2010)254triestodoso Note that the elaborate ancient accounts on Mithra-dates ndash as Appianus Bell Mithr 112 or Strabo Geogr 10410ndashdonotevenmentionhispolyglotism

17 Plinius Maior NH615quondam adeo clara ut Timosthenes in eam CCC nationes dissimilibus linguis descendere prodiderit et postea a nostris CXXX in-terpretibus negotia gesta ibi (on thePontianregionofColchis) Strabo 11216 mentions seventy languagesfortheregionAlsoAlbaniawasconsideredamultilin-gualarea26dialectsaccording toStrabo in thesamepassageSeeRochette(1996)77and80

quinque diuisam genera per omnes partesacnumerospenituscognosceretQuaeresmaximum ei sociorum amorem conciliauit quaquiseorumlinguaapudtribunal illiuspostulauerat eadem decreta reddenti

(Valerius Maximus Fact et dict mem 876)

While present-day readers might ob-jectthatversatilityinGreekdialectsisnotquite the same as multilinguism thingsarenotasclear-cutastheyappearatfirstsightBoththeLatinsermo and the Greek διάλεκτος can have themeaning of lsquolan-guagersquoorlsquodialectrsquoIonicAtticDoricAe-olic and Koinegrave are most probably meant by the five forms of Greek The authorsacknowledged differences while mostlytheyagreedwiththeideathatallwerepartofoneGreeklanguage18

The same fluid use of the notions ofdialect and language appears in the onlyaccountofthethirdpolyglottheEgyptianqueenCleopatra(69ndash30bce)

ἡδονὴδὲκαὶφθεγγομένηςἐπῆντῷἤχῳκαὶτὴνγλῶττανὥσπερὄργανόντιπολύχορδονεὐπετῶς τρέπουσα καθrsquo ἣν βούλοιτοδιάλεκτονὀλίγοιςπαντάπασιδιrsquoἑρμηνέωςἐνετύγχανε βαρβάροις τοῖς δὲ πλείστοιςαὐτὴ διrsquo αὑτῆς ἀπεδίδου τὰς ἀποκρίσειςοἷον Αἰθίοψι Τρωγλοδύταις Ἑβραίοις

18 Davies(1987)Gera(2004)4553180and201Quintilianus Inst or8359referstothemixta ex uaria ratione linguarum oratiowhenmentioningthemixingof various Greek dialects Inst or121034statesthattheGreekauthorspossessagreaterwealthinlanguageillis non verborum modo sed linguarum etiam inter se differentium copia est Quite remarkably the Aeolic dia-lect of Lesbos was sometimes viewed as a lsquobarbaric lan-guagersquoseeWerner(1991)OtherancienttheoriesevenlinkedLatinwithAeoliantherebystatingthatRomansdidnotspeaka realbarbaric languageas therewasaconnection with Greek See Dionysius of Halicarnassus Ant Rom 1901 andVanHal (2009) 153 for furtherreferences

15

Ἄραψι Σύροις Μήδοις Παρθυαίοιςπολλῶν δὲ λέγεται καὶ ἄλλων ἐκμαθεῖνγλώττας τῶν πρὸ αὐτῆς βασιλέων οὐδὲτὴν Αἰγυπτίαν ἀνασχομένων παραλαβεῖνδιάλεκτον ἐνίων δὲ καὶ τὸ μακεδονίζεινἐκλιπόντων

(Plutarchus Ant274)

Apart from the seven enumerated lsquobarbaricrsquolanguages19 she is said to have known lsquomanyrsquo others while it is under-stood as self-evident that unlike the former PtolemaickingsshealsomasteredEgyp-tian and had not forgotten the Macedo-nianpronunciationoftheGreeklanguageHere thewordδιάλεκτον isused for theEgyptianlanguagewhileμακεδονίζεινre-fers to the Macedonian way of pronounc-ingGreek

Language skills of the Palmyrenequeen Zenobia (240ndash275) are treated indetail by her biographers in theHistoria AugustaWhileshespokeandcorrespond-edinherSyriacmother-tonguesheurgedher sons to learn to speak Latin which she knewherselfthoughsurelynottoagradeofperfectionHerknowledgeofGreekandEgyptianwassaidtobeexcellent20

FinallyCassiodorusrsquoextensive lauda-tio of the Ostrogothic queenAmalasuin-tha (c 494ndash5345) somehow ressemblesthepraiseofCleopatraalthoughonesus-

19 AninterpreterfortheTroglodytelanguageisin-deed known from a papyrus (UPZ II 227) See Rochette (1996)80

20 SHA Trig Tyr 3020 Filios Latine loqui iusserat ita ut Graece vel difficile vel raro loquerentur Ipsa Latini sermonis non usque quoque gnara sed ut loqueretur pudore cohibita loquebatur et Aegyptiace ad perfectum modum Historiae Alexandrinae atque orientalis ita perita ut eam epitomasse dicatur Latinam autem Graece legerat SHA Aurel276Hanc epistulam Nicomachus se transtulisse in Graecum ex lingua Syrorum dicit ab ipsa Zenobia dictatam Nam illa superior Aureliani Graeca missa est

pects that it was her eloquence and litera-cy which made her apt to converse with nearlyeveryambassadorwithoutneedingan interpreterAt leastherknowledgeofclassical Greek Latin and Gothic is ex-plicitly praised as excellent

Hanc enim dignissime omnia regnavenerantur quam videre reverentia est loquentem audire miraculum Qua enim lingua non probatur esse doctissimaAtticae facundiae claritate diserta est Romani eloquii pompa resplendet nativi sermonis ubertate gloriatur excellitcunctos in propriis cum sit aequaliter ubique mirabilis Nam si vernaculam linguam bene nosse prudentis est quidde tali sapientia poterit aestimari quae tot genera eloquii inoffensa exercitationecustodit Hinc venit diversis nationibus necessarium magnumque praesidiumquod apud aures prudentissimae dominae nullusegetinterpreteNonenimautlegatusmoram aut interpellans aliquam sustinet de mediatoris tarditate iacturam quando uterque et genuinis verbis auditur etpatriotica responsione componitur

(CassiodorusVar1116ndash7)

The descriptions of these five ancientpolyglots show some remarkably simi-lar patterns All mention communication skills (speaking and understanding) at ahigh degree of perfection Since all dealwith statesmen and women the political advantages (esteem and popularity) of polyglottery are emphasised (most expli-citly in the case of Mithradates) For those interested in the practical side of the mat-teritmaybeworthpointingoutthatapo-litical conversation is not exactly the same as an everyday chat as it can be well pre-pared by the person who is addressed and perhaps not that freely responded to by the

16

partydoingtherequestTellinglyfourofthefivecasesareaboutnon-Romansthreeeven deal with renowend enemies of the Roman Empire And even more signifi-cantly three examples deal with women while the lsquoopposite sexrsquo is often not men-tioned by ancient authors in their discourse oneruditionandschooling

Other examples come to the mind Plu-tarch mentions a mythic person near the PersianGulfwhowasabletospeakldquomanylanguagesrdquobutusedDoricGreekinapo-eticwaywhenconversingwiththeSpartanCleombrotes21When he fled to the Per-siankingtheAthenianstatesmanThemis-tocles was forced to learn Persian in one yearrsquostimehedidsotogreatperfectionas he was able to have a private conversa-tionwiththePersianking22 As will be ex-plainedinthenextparagraphknowledgeof three languages cannothavebeen thatexceptional at all The explicit mention of theldquothreeheartsrdquoof theRomanpoetEn-niusmightthereforebeconnectedwiththefactthatnexttoconversationalfluencyhepractised poetry in Latin Greek and Os-can ndash the expression of love for lsquohisrsquo Os-can language isexceptional23Duringhisexile Ovid claims to have learned to speak boththeGeticandtheSarmatianlanguag-es nothing survives of the poetry he as-serts to have written in Getic24 If we are to

21 Plutarchus De def orac 421b γλώσσαις δὲπολλαῖς ἤσκητο χρῆσθαι πρὸς δrsquo ἐμὲ τὸ πλεῖστονἐδώριζενοὐπόρρωμελῶν

22 Plutarchus Them 28ndash29 Diodorus Siculus11575CorneliusNeposThem 10

23 Gellius 17171 Quintus Ennius tria corda ha-bere se dicebat quod loqui Graece et Osce et Latine sciret

24 Ovidius Trist5755ndash56(Ille ego Romanus uates (ignoscite Musae) Sarmatico cogor plurima more loqui En pudet et fateor iam desuetudine longa uix subeunt ipsi uerba Latina mihi) Trist 51257ndash58 (Ipse mihi uideor iam dedidicisse Latine nam didici Getice Sar-

believe Marcus Aureliusrsquo educator Fronto his pupil was perfectly able to understand ParthianandCeltiberianndashwhichtogetherwith Latin and Greek would make him proficient in four languages25 The often unreliable Historia Augusta mentions an inscriptionforEmperorGordianIIIinfivelanguages so that ldquoeveryonerdquo would getthemessage26 Late antique itineraria oc-casionally mention people with versatility inmanylanguages27Accordingtothetes-timonyofJerometheChristianGreekau-thor Epiphanius of Salamis had mastered five languages Greek Syriac Hebrew CopticandtosomeextentLatin28

maticeque loqui) Trist 31447ndash50 (Threicio Scythi-coque fere circumsonor ore et uideor Geticis scribere posse modis Crede mihi timeo ne sint inmixta Latinis inque meis scriptis Pontica uerba legas) Pont41319ndash20 (A pudet et Getico scripsi sermone libellum struc-taque sunt nostris barbara uerba modis)Regardlessofthe fact whether one is prepared to accept the truth of Ovidrsquos exile the Tristiacontainagoldmineofinforma-tion on language acquisitionSeeTrist 3119ndash10 (nocommunication possible with gens fera) Trist 31237ndash40 (contactwithGreekorLatin speakingseamenandmerchants is rare) Trist4189ndash94(nobodyoverthereiscapableofunderstandingOvidrsquosLatinpoetry)Trist 5267ndash68(someGreeksoundsinGeticnoLatinones)Trist5751ndash64(noknowledgeofLatinsometracesofGreek in Getic) Trist51033ndash38(Ovidisabarbarus and resorts to gestures to make himself understood)Trist51255ndash56(aplacefullofbarbaroussounds and hostility)SeeRochetteXandVanHalXforextensiveliteratureonthissubject

25 Fronto Ad M Antoninum Imp Epist 423(1248van den Hout) Namque tu Parthos etiam et Hiberos sua lingua patrem tuum laudantis pro summis oratoribus audias

26 SHA Gord342Gordiano sepulchrum milites apud Circesium castrum fecerunt in finibus Persidis titulum huius modi addentes et Graecis et Latinis et Persicis et Iudaicis et Aegyptiacis litteris ut ab omnibus legerentur

27 Itin Anton Plac 37 monasterium () in quo sunt tres abbates scientes linguas hoc est Latinas et Graecas Syriacas et Aegyptiacas et Bessas vel multi interpretes singularum linguarumWithBessas Persian is meant

28 Hieronymus Adv Ruf 222 In Adv Ruf 36

17

4 The multilingual context of the Roman Empire

It would take at least a volume to elabo-rateuponthevarietyoflanguagesspokenin the Roman Empire29 To put it in Mac-MullenrsquoswordsldquoGreco-Latin indicatesamixed culture in which to the very end a majority of the population must havespoken neither Latin nor Greek in their homes whatever they spoke of necessity in the courts and market-placesrdquo30Celticwas used in Spain Galatia Gallia and Northern Italy31 likeThracianPhrygianDacian or Lydian it left spare traces in the epigraphic record At least four langua-gesareknowntohavegainedimportancein late Antiquity with the rise of lsquolocalrsquo churchesSyriacCopticPunicandCelticTo this one may add Armenian and Per-sian which were of considerable impor-tanceasinternationallanguagesinthelateancient periodOther local tonguesmusthaveexistedtoemergeonlyintheMiddle

Epiphanius is called πεnνάγλωσσοςRufinushadridicu-lisedEpiphaniusrsquomultilingualskillsSeeDeneckerPar-toensSwiggersVanHal(2012)433ndash434forthedetailsof this controversy

29 Theworkscitedinthebibliographynottheleastthe series of articles by Rochette will offer their read-ersarealtreasuryofworksonlanguagesandlanguagediversity in the Roman Empire A very rich volume is NeumannUntermann(1980)whilethe Cambridge En-cyclopedia of the Worldrsquos Ancient Languages (Woodard2004)offersoverviewsonthelinguisticdetailsforeachof the languages known Refreshing new approacheswith due attention to Late Antiquity appear in Mullen James (2012)

30 MacMullen (1990) 32 This volume containsreeditions of papers by MacMullen which are to be counted as classics for thepresent subject (Provincial Languages in the Roman Empireoriginallypublishedin1966Notes on Romanization in1984)

31 Hieronymus In Galat 23 acknowledged thesimilaritybetweenGalatianandthelanguageofTrevesPlinius Maior Nat Hist 313 observes talinguisticcon-nectionbetweentheCeltsofBaeticaandLusitania

AgesBasqueWelshorBerberBilingua-lismand trilingualismmusthave thrivedHencetheobservationbySaintAugustineonpeopleacquiringthreeorfourlanguagesthanks to the presence of a teacher or by merelylivingwithnativespeakers32 The educated class of Rome often knew Latin and Greek (while in the East the knowl-edgeofLatinwasmorerestrictedthoughnecessaryforofficials)33 Already in Plau-tusrsquo Poenulus thecunninguseofvarioustonguesbyaPoenianisusedforhumoris-tic aims34TheuseofGreekandEgyptian(and Latin to a lesser extent) is very well attestedinthepapyrologicalrecordsintheprovinceofEgypt35 Next to Aramaic and

32 CfAugustinequotedinthebeginningofthispa-per See also Schol Hor serm 11030 Dicit autem bi-linguem quia et Graeci et Latini apud Canusium habi-tant et utuntur utroque sermone(referringtoGreekandLatin) Isidorus Orig 15163Hos Varro trilingues esse ait quod et Graece loquantur et Latine et Gallice (on the Phocaeenses who founded the colony of Mas-silia)

33 The statement by second-century physician Ga-len claiming that a person who knew two languageswas considered a miracle should most likely be inter-preted as ironic Surely Galen wants to praise the Greek tongue SeeGalenDe differentia pulsuum 25 (8586Kuumlhn)ἐγὼγὰροὕτωπολλὰςἐκμανθάνεινοὐδύναμαιδιαλέκτους ἵνrsquo ἀνδράσιν εἰς τοσοῦτον πολυγλώττοιςἕπωμαι δίγλωττος γάρ τις ἐλέγετο πάλαι καὶ θαῦματοῦτοἦνἄνθρωποςεἷςἀκριβῶνδιαλέκτουςδύοσὺδὲἡμᾶςἀξιοῖςπολλὰςἐκμαθεῖνδέοναὐτὸνἐκμανθάνεινμίανοὕτωμὲνἰδίανοὕτωδὲκοινὴνἅπασινοὕτωδrsquoεὔγλωττονοὕτωδrsquoἀνθρωπικήνἐγὼγὰροὕτωπολλὰςἐκμανθάνειν οὐ δύναμαι διαλέκτους ἵνrsquo ἀνδράσινεἰς τοσοῦτον πολυγλώττοις ἕπωμαι δίγλωττος γάρτις ἐλέγετο πάλαι καὶ θαῦμα τοῦτο ἦν ἄνθρωπος εἷςἀκριβῶν διαλέκτους δύο σὺ δὲ ἡμᾶς ἀξιοῖς πολλὰςἐκμαθεῖν δέον αὐτὸν ἐκμανθάνειν μίαν οὕτω μὲνἰδίανοὕτωδὲκοινὴνἅπασινοὕτωδrsquoεὔγλωττονοὕτωδrsquo ἀνθρωπικήν Inwhat follows the speech of barba-rians is compared to sounds of animals See Van Hal (2009)147

34 Plautus Poen995ndash1028(espv112ndash113Et is omnis linguas scit sed dissimulat sciens se scire Poe-nus plane est)SeeRochette(1993)544ndash545

35 Rochette(1994)Papaconstantinou(2010)

18

Hebrew(atthattimealanguageofScrip-tureandliturgy)mostJewsintheCityofRome probably knew Greek and Latin to whichtheyresortedfortheirgraveinscrip-tions Numerous famous authors of Greek or Latin must have been acquainted with at leastone local languageApuleiusandAugustine (Punic and Berber) LucianAmmianus Marcellinus Libanius John ChrysostomTheodoret (Syriac the lattersurelyrearedinthislanguage)SenecatheElder(Celtiberian)tonamebutafew

As to literacy the discussion about the exact numbers of speakers of local lan-guagesoraboutthosewhowereacquain-ted with Greek and or Latin is a matter formereguess-workHereacomparativeresearch and a sound sense of empathy might bring ancient historians a little bitfurther

Anthropologistshavestudiedso-calledmultilingualareasinIndiatribesinBlackAfrica and to a lesser extent intheBalkanregions Here people lsquopick uprsquo an amaz-ingrangeoflanguages(fiveormoreisnotanexception)Languageacquisitionhap-pens entirely informally just by humancontacts Mostly the use of a languageis restricted to a particular domain of life (eg talking towomenfromanothervil-lagewhentakingwateratacommonwell)PidginlanguagesfacilitatetheinteractionFor these reasons anthropologists dis-tinguish between the multilingualism ofsuch regions and the study of languagesasperformedbypolyglotsIn1860about3 of the population were able to prop-erly use and understand Tuscan Italian thelanguageofthenewstateReportsbyeighteenth-centuryparishpriestsinFranceoverandoveragainlamentdifficultiesin

communication it was as if eachvillagesometimes even individual families spoke theirowntongue36

Ancient historians widely agree thatabout80of thepopulationof theEm-pire lived in the countryside althoughthis does not exclude interaction with the citiesTheCityofRomesentoutandre-ceived quite a number of emigrants butover the Empire most rural people hardly ever left theirvillagesCallinguponldquotheaid of the mindrsquos eyerdquo MacMullen has picturedaone-roomdwellingsomewherein the ancient Mediterranean countryside In this house with only one table a Roman soldier is billeted for the winter The own-ers a man and his wife pay their tribute to the authorities but do not feel the faintest attraction towards the soldierrsquos languagecostume or culture They do not commu-nicate and when problems arise the coup-le turn to a man of their own people The husbandandwifeprobablywerejustluckyif the soldier left in spring leaving theirhome (and young daughter) in peace37 Wemightinfactimaginequitealargepartof thepopulation living this sortof lsquopas-siversquo or lsquonegativersquo resistanceHowmanytherewereisjustimpossibletosay(therewere of course degrees of assimilationaccculturation and resistance) But theremight have beenmanymore than the li-terary sources pretend there were The role playedbylanguageinthisprocessisevenmoredifficult tocalculateorestimate InItalyGaulandSpainuptotheyear800common people seem to have been capa-bleofunderstandingatleastasimpleform

36 Erard (2012) 21 (Africa) 188ndash189 191ndash205207ndash209 (India) Burke (1993) 78 (Italian) Robb(2007)68ndash87(languagediversityinFrance)

37 MacMullen(1990)65

19

of Latin38 Sermonspresupposeaglimpseof this Romanitas though this evidencedoes not tell us anything about everydaycommunicationortheabilityofinteractingwith people from regions outside onersquosownvillage

5 Ancient authors on multilingual encounters

In the mental universum of the Greek and Latinauthors(atbestrepresentingasmallpercentage of the total population39) all communication seems to have happened inoneof the twoclassical languagesAssuch encounterswith people ignorant ofLatin or Greek (the first meaning of theword barbaros is well known) are docu-mented quite rarely40

Tacitus reports on a local peasant from Termes (now Lerma in Spain) He was tortured after having killed Lucius Pisothe praetor of the province but cried out in hismothertongue(sermone patrio) that he wasbeinginterrogatedinvainashewouldnever reveal his accomplices41 In the Greek setting ofApuleiusrsquoMetamorpho-ses we read about an unpleasant encounter between a soldier and a peasant ignorantofLatinWhenthesoldierafterhavingat-tacked the poor gardener turns toGreek(andthepeasantindicateshisignoranceofthatlanguage)wecaneasilyimaginethisconversation to have been on a very basic

38 The main thesis of the very recommendable book byBanniard(1992)

39 See the excellent and though provoking bookbyKnapp(2011)suggestingthatperhaps99ofthepopulation are hardly mentioned in the sources

40 ForthosewillingtostrugglewiththeLatinmuchistobefoundinSnellman(1914ndash1919)

41 Tacitus Ann445

level42ThenearlyexclusiveknowledgeofPunic and the subsequent communication problemsaswellasrhetoricalproficiencyinthislanguagearementionedmorethanonce43 The same is true for Armenian44 and Syriac45 As a young man (adules-cens) the later emperor Maximinus Thrax asked Emperor Septimius Severus in his own Thracian language (patria lingua) whether he would be allowed to partici-

42 The anecdote is worth to be quoted in full Apu-leius Met939Nam quidam procerus et ut indicabat habitus atque habitudo miles e legione factus nobis obvius superbo atque adroganti sermone percontatur quorsum vacuum duceret asinum At meus adhuc mae-rore permixtus et alias Latini sermonis ignarus tacitus praeteribat Nec miles ille familiarem cohibere quivit insolentiam sed indignatus silentio eius ut convicio viti quam tenebat obtundens eum dorso meo proturbat Tunc hortulanus subplicue respondit sermonis ignorantia se quid ille disceret scire non posse Ergo igitur Graece subiciens miles ldquoVbirdquo inquit ldquoducis asinum istumrdquo Respondit hortulanus petere se civitatem proximam

43 Polybius1805(mostofthearmyunderstandPu-nic) Apuleius Apol98loquitur numquam nise Punice et si adhuc a matre graecissat enim Latine loqui neque vult neque potestAugustinusSerm1674(translatinga Punic proverb because not everyone in the audience knows Punic) Ps-Aurelius Victor Epit 207 (Septi-mius Severus is said to have been Punica eloquentia promptior thoughhisknowledgeofGreekwasexcel-lent)

44 Procopius Bell726ἦνδέτιςξὺντῷἸωάννῃΓιλάκιος ὄνομα Ἀρμένιος γένος ὀλίγων τινῶνἈρμενίων ἄρχων οὗτος ὁ Γιλάκιος οὔτε ἑλληνίζεινἠπίστατο οὔτε Λατίνην ἢ Γοτθικὴν ἢ ἄλλην τινὰ ἢἈρμενίαν μόνην ἀφεῖναι φωνήν τούτῳ δὴ ΓότθοιἐντυχόντεςτινὲςἐπυνθάνοντοὅστιςποτὲεἴηAgainitcould only have been by very basic conversations that the Goths found out who he was

45 Jerome Epist 712 nunc cum uestris litteris fa-bulor illas amplexor illae mecum loquuntur illae hic tantum Latine sciunt Hic enim aut barbarus semiser-mo discendus est aut tacendum estLivingintheSyriandesertofCalchis in376 Jeromewasnotable tocon-versatewith localsdespitehisknowledgeofAramaic(and Hebrew) Marcus Diaconus Vita Porphyr 66-68(motherandchildinGazaonlyspeakingSyriac)S Sil-viae peregrinatio47(CSEL3913)villagersin385nearJerusalem speak Syriac and a little bit of Greek but the bishopinsistsonGreekinliturgy

20

pateinasoldiersrsquowrestlingcontest46 Mer-chants dealing with foreign people musthave acquired some language skills tooOn his way to Arabia the freedman An-nius Plocamus was driven off by a storm andafterfifteendayshearrivedattheportof Hippuros in Sri Lanka He learned the languageinsixmonthsandwasabletore-porttothekingabouttheRomanemperorClaudiusandtheempire47 In what I con-sideroneof themostbeautifulfragmentson language encounters the fifth-centuryauthor Priscus of Panion reports his en-counter with a man whom he supposed by the way he was dressed to be a Scy-thian To his amazement the man spoke in Greek(wegettoknowthatScythiansweremore likely to learn Hunnic Gothic or La-tin)ButthemanturnedouttobeaGreekmerchant he had gone to Viminacium(nowadays Kostolac in Serbia) married a wealthy woman and adopted a Scythian appearance48 In the late ancient itinera-

46 Iordanes Get83Heisdescribedasasemibar-barus adulescens

47 Plinius Maior Nat Hist684XV die Hippuros portum eius invectus hospitali regis clementia sex men-sum tempore inbutus adloquio percunctanti postea nar-ravit Romanos et Caesarem

48Priscusfr8Διατρίβοντιδέμοικαὶπεριπάτουςποιουμένῳ πρὸ τοῦ περιβόλου τῶν οἰκημάτωνπροσελθών τις ὃν βάρβαρον ἐκ τῆς Σκυθικῆς ᾠήθηνεἶναι στολῆς Ἑλληνικῇ ἀσπάζεταί με φωνῇ χαῖρεπροσειπών ὥστε με θαυμάζειν ὅτι γε δὴ ἑλληνίζειΣκύθης ἀνήρ ξύγκλυδες γὰρ ὄντες πρὸς τῇ σφετέρᾳβαρβάρῳγλώσσῃζηλοῦσινἢτὴνΟὔννωνἢτὴνΓότθωνἢ καὶ τὴν Αὐσονίων ὅσοις αὐτῶν πρὸς Ῥωμαίουςἐπιμιξία καὶ οὐ ῥᾳδίως τις σφῶν ἑλληνίζει τῇ φωνῇπλὴνὧν ἀπήγαγον αἰχμαλώτων ἀπὸ τῆςΘρᾳκίας καὶἸλλυρίδοςπαράλου()ἀντασπασάμενοςδὲἀνηρώτωντίςὢνκαὶπόθενἐςτὴνβάρβαρονπαρῆλθεγῆνκαὶβίονἀναιρεῖταιΣκυθικόνὁδὲἀπεκρίνατοὅτιβουλόμενοςταῦτα γνῶναι ἐσπούδακα ἐγὼ δὲ ἔφην αἰτίανπολυπραγμοσύνηςεἶναιμοιτὴνἙλλήνωνφωνήντότεδὴ γελάσας ἔλεγε Γραικὸς μὲν εἶναι τὸ γένος κατrsquoἐμπορίαν δὲ εἰς τὸ Βιμινάκιον ἐληλυθέναι τὴν πρὸςτῷἼστρῳποταμῷΜυσῶνπόλινπλεῖστονδὲἐναὐτῇδιατρῖψαιχρόνονκαὶγυναῖκαγήμασθαιζάπλουτον

riesandpilgrimagesabasicknowledgeofLatin as a lingua franca was most helpful topilgrimsfromtheWestadventuringintothe Holy Land49

Roman jurists by the bye acknowl-edge the multilingual context Ulpianstates that fideicommissamightbedevisedinany tongue(as longas there ismutualunderstanding for instance thanks to aninterpreter) not only in Latin or Greek but alsoinPunicorCelticorSyriac50

6 Why did polyglots not matter

WhiletheRomanempireundoubtedlywasamultilingualenvironment where quite a few inhabitants were versatile in several languages out of bare necessity we areleft with the impression that those whom wecallpolyglotsarelargelyabsentinthesources There are no reports on persons learning languages for the sheer joy ofstudying and knowing other cultures noemperors kings aristocrats politiciansdiplomats gentlemenorhommes savants who takepride in their loreof languages

49 Itin Silv 473ndash4Serviceswere said inGreekbuttranslatedintoSyriacattheverymomentButtherewas consolation for those who only understood Latin Sane quicumque hic Latini sunt id est qui nec Siriste nec Graece noverunt ne contristentur et ipsis exponi-tur eis quia sunt alii fratres et sorores Graecolatini qui Latine exponunt eis

50 Dig 3211 pr Fideicommissa quocumque ser-mone relinqui possunt non solum Latina vel Graeca sed etiam Punica vel Gallicana vel alterius cuius-cumque gentisDig45116Eadem an alia lingua re-spondeatur nihil interest Proinde si quis Latine interro-gaverit respondeatur ei Graece dummodo congruenter respondeatur obligatio constituta est idem per con-trarium sed utrum hoc usque ad Graecum sermonem tantum protrahimus an vero et ad alium poenum forte vel Assyrium vel cuius alterius linguae dubitari potest Et scriptura Sabini sed et verum patitur ut omnis sermo contineat verborum obligationem ita tamen ut uterque alterius linguam intellegat sive per se sive per verum interpretem

21

as they appear from thefifteenth centuryon in Renaissance and Early Modern Eu-rope51 At least from the times of Helle-nismon(thoughGreekcolonisationstart-ed already as early as the ninth century bce) travels and conquests led to frequent contacts with heteroglot populations asfar away as India However these multi-cultural encounters never had the same impact on language consciousness as thediscovery of hundreds of Indian tonguesin theNewWorld had from thefifteenthcenturyonTellinglyAlexandertheGreatfavouredtheideaofinstructingtheGreeklanguageto30000childrenfromallcon-quered regions Once they had grownuptheycouldtakeleadingpositionsinanew unified Greek empire52 Just like in ancientEgyptUgaritor theChineseem-piremonolingualismseemstohavebeena characteristic of the literary elites of Ancient Greece53 Roman elites (like the PersianAchaemenids)werebilingualTheveryfewpolyglotsthatarementionedaremainly non-Romans (even enemies of the Roman order) women and outsiders Their skills are sometimes connected to a prodi-giouscapacityformemorisationorinthecase of Mithradates with the secret lore of producingantidotesAttheverybesttheiroralproficiencyindealingwithsubmittedpeople is praised

This mere observation cries out for an explanation True the question of multi-lingualismmight well be a modern one

51 SeeBurke(2004)111ndash140abeatifulchapteronthelsquomixingoflanguagesrsquo

52 Plutarchus Alex476NeedlesstosaythelsquotruthrsquoofthisanecdotematterslessthanthemessagebehinditSeeRochette(1996)78

53 Of course also these cultures resorted to inter-preterswhennecessarySeeRochette(1996)76forfur-ther references

considerably gaining in importance withtheemergenceofthenationalstatesinthenineteenth-century Europe There are lan-guagecensusesandthelegislationthatmayfollow them that have become political is-sues which do not always have clear-cut solutions some may also be complicated by the hard-to-define difference betweenalanguageandadialect(cfthefacetiousdefinition ofalanguageasadialectwithanarmyandanavyandsubsequentlegis-lation)While the ancientsneverbroughta system into the variety of human speech that existed around them ndash as witnessed by their rather indistinct use of words for ldquolanguagerdquo and ldquodialectrdquo at least in theGreek language ndash they of course distin-guished among languagesBut unlike inthe ModernAge where divisions amonglanguages are admittedly not always thatclear-cutthisknowledgewasneverreallyvalued54

One could claim that most of the lan-guagesintheEmpiredidnothaveawrit-ten tradition as is true for the about forty languageswhichareestimatedtohaveex-isted in Italyduring the timesof theRo-manRepublicWhenthesetonguesappearassuchitisinrareepigraphicdocumentswhich probably only reveal a very stan-

54AformerspeakerofSerbo-Croatianmightnoweasilycounthimselfasatruepolyglotclaimingknow-ledge of SerbianCroatianBosnian and evenMonte-negrinndashallofwhicharemutually intelligibleCf thequestion of minority languages and dialects Ethno-logue Languages of the World and UNESCO World Atlas of the Worldlsquos Languages in Danger will count asmanyas38languagesforItalyornineforBelgium(Emiliano-RomagnoloLombardianPicardianWalloonto name just a few examples for both countries) SeeBurke (1993) 66ndash88 on language and identity (withp85ondialectwitharmynavyandairforce)Burke(2004)15ndash42and61ndash88forinsightfulcommentsonthediscoveryoflanguagesandvernacularsincompetitionin Early Modern Europe

22

dardisedorschematiseduseofalanguageSince things belonging to the oral tradi-tion are seldom mentioned in the literary sources it is normal that knowledge ofsuchlanguagesdoesnotappearinthere-cordsAgain this begs the questionwhythese languageswent underground in theliterary record only to revive in the late ancient period at least in cases like Syriac andCoptic

Others have pointed to the ethnocentric and imperialistic attitude of Greeks and Romans the pejorative interpretation ofthe concept of barbarosthelinkingofeth-nicitywith language and themetaphysi-cal presumption that foreign languagesare mere collections of names In this con-textlearninganewlanguagewasmainlyviewedascountingforeignwords55

Comparative history helps to sharpenour view on the matterAs Peter Burkeconvincingly demonstrated the rise ofstandardised Tuscan Italian was not a re-sult of the Risorgimento movement Asearly as the sixteenth century courtesans all over Italy used Tuscan next to their re-gionallanguageAccordingtoBurkeitisthisriseoftransregionalconsciousnessinthehigherclasseswhichneeds tobeex-plained not the question why Tuscan out-ranked for instance Neapolitan Appar-ently these aristocrats cherished common ideals ndash found in literature art architec-ture and the way of life ndash which enabled themtodistinguishthemselvesfromlsquooth-ersrsquolsquousItaliansrsquoagainsttherestAtleast

55 Literature on these three subjects is extensiveCamposDaroca(1992)andMunson(2005)arebookswhich nuance Herodotuslsquo ethnocentric approach to-wards the barbaroiandtheirlanguagesCfalsothedis-cussionon(proto)racisminAntiquitybyIsaac(2004)VanHal (2009)148ndash151offersanexcellentoverviewaswellasbiographicalguidance

from the second century bce on Roman elites found their distinctive element in the Hellenistic culturewhich theyhighly ad-miredBy then theconsiderablemilitarypowerwhichhadgiventhemcontroloverthewholeMediterraneangavewaytoyetanother senseof lsquousRomansrsquoagainst theothersInthebeginningofthefirstcenturybceLatinbecamea languageof oratoryhistoriographyandphilosophyAtleastintheWest the conquered elites embracedthe new way of life which included com-fortable housing and architecture road-work infrastructure new economic oppor-tunitiesastablelegalsystemapromiseofsafetyandsecurityPresentingthemselvesas Romans surely implied the use of Latin Itwasapricemostofthemwerewillingtopayanditishighlyquestionablewhethertheywouldhaveconsidereditasgivinguptheir lsquoidentityrsquo Local traditions and lan-guagespersistedtosomeextentButaris-tocrats did not need to take pride in multi-lingualskillsLatinandGreeksuitedtheirpurposeperfectlySyagriusthelsquoSolonrsquooftheBurgundiancourtwhoknewtheBur-gundian language thatwell that the lsquobar-bariansrsquofearedtousetheirowntongueinhis presence is considered a rather funny exception56ArbogastesaFrankishleaderresiding in Treves practiced ldquoreal Latinas from the Tiberrdquo No doubt his example was to be followed57

56 Sidonius Apollinaris Epist 553 Aestimari minime potest quanto mihi ceterisque sit risui quotiens audio quod te praesente formidet linguae suae facere barbarus barbarismum adstupet tibi epistulas interpre-tanti curva Germanorum senectus et negotiis mutuis ar-bitrum te disceptatoremque desumit () Et quamquam aeque corporibus ac sensu rigidi sint indolatilesque amplectuntur in te pariter et discunt sermonem patrium cor Latinum

57 Sidonius Apollinaris Epist 4171 Tertia ur-banitas qua te ineptire facetissime allegas et Quirinalis

23

7 Christianity and Change

The issue of Early Christianity and lan-guages inevitably brings us to the vexedquestion lsquo what changes did ChristianitybringrsquoIndeedthenewChristianreligionhad its origin in an Aramaic languagecontext Christianity was embedded inthe Jewish tradition While Jesus spokein Aramaic and surely knew Hebrew His messagewasmainlyspreadinGreekthelingua franca of the East of the Empire AsChristiancommunitiesexistedinRomefromthefirstcenturyonLatinbecametheother important language for dissemina-ting the new religion In late AntiquityCoptic and Syriac became the languagesoflocalchurcheswiththeirownliturgicaltheological and cultural traditions whileoutside the Empire Armenian and Ethiopic alsogainedthesamestatus

In the Jewish tradition about the tower of Babel language diversity was linkedto divine punishment58 But on the feastof Pentecost the apostles experienced polyglossia59 ndash a positive language ex-perience of speaking in lsquoallrsquo tongues onwhich the patristic writers commented again and again (likeAugustinersquos Sermo 162Aquotedinthebeginningofthispa-per) Language diversity is sometimesinterpreted as a means created by God to securehumankindagainstprideandcon-

impletus fonte facundiae potor Mosellae Tiberim ructas sic barbarorum familiaris quod tamen nescius barba-rismorum par ducibus antiquis lingua manuque sed quorum dextera solebat non stilum minus tractare quam gladium

58 Gen111ndash9SeeBorst(1957ndash1963)foranim-portant study

59 Act 21ndash13 In the twentieth century hearingconfessioninalllanguagesandevenrespondingineachpersonrsquos language is one of themiracles attributed toPadrePioSeeGodefroy(2013)38

ceitedness Greeks should not boast about having invented their language thanks totheir own brilliant minds60 God will hear andunderstandprayersinanylanguage61 HowevertoSaintAugustinethediversityof languages is an issue that causesmentopreferthecompanyoftheirdogsratherthan to be with fellow humans with whom no communication whatsoever is possi-ble62Allthisalsobegsthequestionofanlsquoidealrsquolanguagewhichwouldensureuni-versal communication63

The ninth book of the Origines by Isi-dore of Sevilla is entirely devoted to lan-guage-relatedissuesandthereforeentitledDe linguis gentium To him there can be no doubt that Hebrew was the primeval lan-guagebeforethefalloftheBabeltower64 About two hundred years before Jerome

60 Cyrillus Contra Jul 4135ndash136 Glaphyra in Pent Gen 244Contra Jul 7234 SeeVanRooy(2013)

61 OrigenesContra Cels827ndash313762 AugustinusCiv197In quo primum linguarum

diuersitas hominem alienat ab homine Nam si duo sibi-met inuicem fiant obuiam neque praeterire sed simul esse aliqua necessitate cogantur quorum neuter lin-guam nouit alterius facilius sibi muta animalia etiam diuersi generis quam illi cum sint homines ambo so-ciantur Quando enim quae sentiunt inter se communi-care non possunt propter solam diuersitatem linguae nihil prodest ad consociandos homines tanta similitudo naturae ita ut libentius homo sit cum cane suo quam cum homine alieno Inwhat followsAugustineoffersaninterestinganalysisontheargumentthatatleasttheRoman Empire made an end to this diversity by impos-ingitslanguage(andmakinginterpretersalmostsuper-fluous)Thiswasonlydonebymuchbloodshed

63 Eco(1993)isaclassiconthesearchfortheper-fect universal language On the tradition of gesturesomnium hominum communis sermoaccordingtoQuin-tilianus Inst or11387 seeRochette (1995)11Lu-cian Salt64istellingan anecdote on the universality ofbodylanguagebyadanceratthecourtofNero

64 Isidorus of Sevilla Orig911Nam priusquam superbia turris illius in diversos signorum sonos huma-nam divideret societatem una omnium nationum lingua fuit quae Hebrea vocatur

24

hadexplicitlyhighlightedhismultilingualcompetencewhichgavehimauthorityasatranslatoroftheScripturesandinexegeti-cal interpretation ldquoWill you a bilingualyourselfmockmeatrilingualrdquo65 Sure-ly this was an intellectual climate which couldfavourmultilingualismorpolyglot-teryndashthestudyofearlyChristianwriterson the origin diversity and classificationoflanguagesisaprojectwhichisinitsfirstphase66

8 Conclusions

This paper was started as a search for polyglots inAntiquityA recent book onextraordinarylanguagelearnersstatesthatpolyglotsdothingswithlanguagethatthepeople who speak them natively would never do They have an ability to rapidly analysealanguageaprodigiousmemoryan apparent ability to mimic speech sounds which are not native to them and an abi-litytoswitchfromonelanguagetoanoth-erwithoutlettingtheminterferewithoneanother These abilities which can be en-hancedbythesacrificeofspendingmuchtime are often considered unique There-forepolyglotsbecomepartofcabinetsofcuriosities In a way they are treated as freaks67

QuiteunsurprisinglyIwasabletofindsome lsquoremarkablersquo instances of polyglot-tery in the ancient sources Obviously somesimilaritiescanbeobservedButformorethanonereasonancientpolyglotsor

65 Hieronymus Adv Rufin 222 me trilinguem bilinguis ipse ridebisSeeRebenich(1993)onJeromeDenecker Partoens Swiggers Van Hal (2012) 433ndash434alsoforthetranslationofthefragment

66 SeethemostpromisingprojectbyDeneckerPar-toensSwiggersVanHal(2012)

67 Erard(2012)62ndash63

ratherancientviewsonpolyglotsstrikeusas different The rarity of the pheno menon inasocietyinwhichmultilingualismwasa current feature forces us to think about vital issues such as the valuation of lan-guage and communication ethnocentric-ity and imperialism as well as the link between character and language Com-parative cultural history opens windows to monolingualisminotherancientempireswhilestudyingtheriseofTuscanItalianinthe Renaissance period informs us about the intrinsic link between class conscious-nessandthevaluationoflanguage

This paper on anecdotical evidence has turned out to bea study on social and cul-tural history When Schliemann proudlyadvertisedhisknowledgeof22languageshewas presumably thinking aboutMith-radates who up to now stands as an icon ofpolygotteryYet it is not only the lan-guages studied that make the differencebetween Schliemann and Mithradates Scholarly esteem and admiration was the lastthingMithradatescouldhaveexpectedbydisplayinghisskillsAlthoughbytheirlanguage skills both he and Schliemannmanagedtogaintheauraofalegendtheylived in different and separate worlds two worlds very much apart

Acknowledgements

In more than one way this paper has its origins in academic stays in Vilnius andLissabon Coimbra I would like tothankmyLithuaniancolleaguesAudronėKučinskienė and Nijolė Juchnevičienėthanks to whom it became clear to me that polyglotaspirationsforlearningLithuani-anwouldbeanalmostimpossiblegoalformetoaimforTheirgreathospitalitywas

25

muchappreciatedManythanksalsogotomymosthospitablePortuguesecolleaguesPaulaBarataDiasandFranciscoOliveirade diversitate linguarum will hopefully becomeasharedproject

Guy Tops in many ways improved my EnglishTwentyyearsagoheinitiatedmeintotheGothiclanguageIammostgrate-ful for his lessons in written (academic)

Englishwhichheprovidedbycorrectingthis text

In order to keep the polyglot experi-enceIhaverefrainedfromofferingtrans-lationsoftheGreekandLatinfragmentsThebibliographyoffersguidancefor fur-therreadingndashIhopetohavedonejusticeto the diverse research traditions in diffe-rentlanguagesofcourse

BIBLIOGRAPHY

MBanniard Viva voce Communication eacutecrite et communication orale du IViegraveme au IXiegraveme siegravecle en Occident Latin(Paris1992)

ABorstDer Turmbau von Babel Geschichte der Meinungen uumlber Ursprung und Vielfalt des Sprachen und Voumllker6vol(Stuttgart1957ndash1963)

PBurkeThe Art of Conversation(Cambridge1993)

PBurkeLanguages and Communities in Early Modern Europe(Cambridge2004)

W Calder III lsquoHeinrich SchliemannAn Un-published Latin Vitarsquo in The Classical World 675(1974)272ndash282

JCamposDarocaExperiencias del lenguaje en las ldquoHistoriasrdquo de Heroacutedoto(Almeria1992)

M Davies lsquoThe Greek Notion of Dialectrsquo in Verbum10(1987)7ndash28

T Denecker G Partoens P Swiggers TVanHal lsquoLanguage Origins Language Diversity andLanguage Classification in Early Christian LatinAuthorsrsquo in Historiographia Linguistica 39 2ndash3(2012)429ndash439

D F Easton lsquoHeinrich Schliemann Hero or Fraudrsquo in The Classical World915(1998)335ndash343

U Eco La ricerca della lingua perfetta nella cultura europea(Rome1993)

M Erard Babel No More The Search for the Worldrsquos Most Extraordinary Language Learners (New York 2012)

WFrijhoffMeertaligheid in de Gouden Eeuw Een verkenning (Amsterdam 2010)

D L Gera Ancient Greek Ideas on Speech Lan-guage and Civilization(Oxford2004)

A Godefroy lsquoLes miracles des saints de Pierreagrave Padre Piorsquo in Le monde des reacuteligions 62 (2013)36ndash38

B IsaacThe Invention of Racism in Classical Antiquity(Princeton2004)

R Knapp Invisible Romans (CambridgeMA2011)

ChrMaassAVollmer(eds)Mehrsprachigkeit in der Renaissance(Heidelberg2005)

R MacMullen Changes in the Roman Empire Essays in the Ordinary(Princeton1990)

A Mayor The Poison King The Life and Legend of Mithradates Romersquos Deadliest Enemy (Princeton 2010)

E Meyer Heinrich Schliemann Briefwechsel aus dem Nachlass in Auswahl herausgegeben I von 1842 bis 1875(Berlin1953)

E Meyer Heinrich Schliemann Briefwechsel aus dem Nachlass in Auswahl herausgegeben II von 1876 bis 1890(Berlin1958)

E Meyer Heinrich Schliemann Kaufmann und Forscher (ZuumlrichBerlinFrankfurt1969)

A Mullen P James (eds) Multilingualism in the Graeco-Roman Worlds(Cambridge2012)

C W Muumlller K Sier J Werner (eds) Zum Umgang mit fremden Sprachen in der griechisch-roumlmischen Antike (Stuttgart1992)

R V Munson Black Doves Speak Herodotus and the Language of Barbarians(CambridgeMA2005)

G Neumann J Untermann (eds) Die Sprachen im roumlmischen Reich der Kaiserzeit(CologneBonn1980)

A Papaconstantinou The multilingual experi-ence in Egypt from the Ptolemies to the lsquoAbbāsids (Farnham 2010)

PPeeters lsquoEruditsetpolyglotsdrsquoautrefoisrsquo inBulletin de la Classe des Lettres et Sciences Morales et Politiques Mededeelingen van de Afdeeling Let-teren en Staat- en Zedekundige Wetenschappen 21 (1935)123ndash144

26

Gauta 2013-11-01 Autoriaus adresasPriimta publikuoti 2013-11-22 Dept of History

GroteKauwenberg18(D320)University of Antwerp

B2000AntwerpenDeptofLanguagesandLiterature

Pleinlaan2(B5-445)FreeUniversityofBrussels

B1050BrusselE-mailchristianlaesuantwerpenbe

S Rebenich lsquoJerome the lsquoVir Trilinguisrsquo andtheldquoHebraicaVeritasrdquorsquo inVigiliae Christianae471(1993)50ndash77

G Robb The Discovery of France A Historical Geography from the Revolution to the First World War (London New York 2007)

B Rochette lsquoLa diversiteacute linguistique dansllsquoAntiquiteacuteClassiqueLeteacutemoignagedesauteursdelrsquoeacutepoquedrsquoAugusteetduIersiegravecledenotreegraverersquoinL Isebaert (ed) Miscellanea Linguistica Graeco-Latina (Namur1993)219ndash237

B Rochette lsquoLes auteurs latins et les langueseacutetrangegraveresLapeacuteriodereacutepublicainersquoinLatomus523(1993)541ndash549

B Rochette lsquoTraducteurs et traductions danslrsquoEgyptegreacuteco-romainersquoinChronique drsquoEgypte69138(1994)313ndash322

BRochette lsquoGrecsetLatins faceaux langueseacutetrangegraveresContributionagravelrsquoeacutetudedeladiversiteacutelin-guistiquedanslrsquoantiquiteacuteclassiquersquoinRevue Belge de Philologie et drsquohistoire731(1995)5ndash16

B Rochette lsquoFidi interpretes La traduction orale agrave Romersquo in Ancient Society27(1996)75ndash89

L Snellman De interpretibus Romanis deque linguae Latinae cum aliis nationibus commercio 2vol(Leipzig1914ndash1919)

A Strobach Plutarch und die Sprachen (Stutt-gart1997)

T Van Hal lsquoSpreken als de vleermuizen Over de GriekseenRomeinsebelangstellingvooranderetal-enndashofhetgebrekdaaraanrsquoinKleio Tijdschrift voor oude talen en antieke cultuur384(2009)146ndash162

TVanHalL IsebaertPSwiggers (eds)De tuin der talen Taalstudie en taalcultuur in de Lage Landen 1450ndash1750 (Leuven 2013)

RVanRoylsquoBekvechtenoverBabelOrigenesrsquoTegenCelsusenCyrilusrsquoTegenJulianusrsquoinHerme-neus852(2013)88ndash93

J Werner lsquoDas Lesbisch als barbarischeSprache in Philologus135(1991)55ndash62

RDWoodard (ed)The Cambridge Encyclo-pedia of the Worldrsquos Ancient Languages(Cambridge2004)

POLIGLOTAI SENOVĖS ROMOJE SOCIOKULTŪRINĖS ISTORIJOS REKONSTRUKCIJA REMIANTIS ANEKDOTAIS

Christian LaesS a n t r a u k aStraipsnioautoriusremdamasiskruopščiaantikiniųšaltinių analize tiria daugiakalbystės reiškinįAnti-kojePoliglotamsbūdinganeįprastakalbosvartose-nabesiskiriantinuogimtakalbiųvartosenos(gebėji-mas greitai analizuoti kalbą pamėgdžioti svetimoskalbosgarsusgreitaipersiorientuotinuovienoskal-bospriekitositingeraatmintis)traukiažmoniųdė-mesįNorsšiegebėjimaigalibūtiišugdomidažnaijielaikytiunikaliaistodėlpoliglotaineretaivertina-

mikaipkeistuoliaiLiudijimųapiepoliglotusyraiš-likęirantikiniuosešaltiniuoseGalimapastebėtine-mažaipanašumųtarppoliglotųvertinimoAntikojeiršiaislaikaisbetyrairprincipiniųskirtumųpalygintimažasšioreiškiniopaplitimasvisuomenėjekuriojedaugiakalbystė buvo įprastas dalykas kelia tokiusklausimus kaip antai kalbos ir jos komunikacinėsfunkcijosvertinimasetnocentrizmoirimperializmosantykisasmenybėsirkalbossąsajos

8

appointed to judge the proposal foundthe research interesting independent andho nest and the candidatersquos mastery of French praiseworthyWhile the Latin ofthe Vita was considered satisfactory the ancient Greek was judged as appallingThis text was severely criticised there was notasinglesentencewithoutanerroranditoughtnevertohavebeensubmitted4Bethisasitmaybeon27April1869Hein-

4 Details edition and commentary on the Latin Vita are in Calder III (1974) See alsoAlbert (1996)501ndash502

rich Schliemann was granted the degreeof Philosophiae Doctor Artiumque Liber-alium Magister ndash PhD and MA at once

Schliemannrsquos Latin Vita is both an ex-ample par excellence of self-representation and a remarkable story about the acquisi-tionofmultilingualskillsandisthereforeworthquotingmorefully

The following table chronologicallylists the various languages he studiedas well as the sometimes curious details Schliemann inserted about his motivation forlearninganewlanguageorthewayheacquired his skills

Year Language Quote Remarks observations

1832 Latin Quum Kalkhorsti () puer decem anno-rumpatrimeodonuminChristinatalitiaannomillesimooctingentesimotricesimosecundo commentariolum lingua latinamale scriptum offerrem de rebus maxime memorabilibusbelloTrojanogestisetdeUlyssis et Agamemnonis variis quibusjactatisuntcasibus()

ApparentlySchliemannwastaughtLatinfromanearlyagebyhisfa-ther who was a Protestant minister The Christmas present is men-tioned in the Vita as a prodigium 36yearslatertheten-year-oldboywho wrote the tale was to see the placeoftheTrojanwarandthefa-therland of his cherished heroes

1836 Ancient Greek(firstacquaintance with)

Sorte sua non contentus adolescens ebri-ositati se dediderat quod vere vi tium non effecit ut Homeri oblivisceretur recitabat enim nobis fere centum versus observans numerum Quamvis ne verbum quidem eorumintelligeremtamenhacdulceso-nanti linguavehementercommovebaretamaras de misera mea sorte profundebam lacrimas

At age fourteen circumstancesforced Schliemann to leave school and to become an apprentice at a grocery His passion for Homerwas born when he heard a drunk-ard reciting Homeric verses Hepaid the fellow three bottles of brandy to hear him recite these verses three times

1842 English(insix months)

Quae ratio in eo consistit ut multum clara voce legamus numquam conversionesfaciamus quoque die una schola utamur ut semper de rebus quae nos delectant commentemur ut commentariola inspic-ientemagistroemendemuseaediscamuset ad verbum ea postero die recitemus quae priore emendavimus Memoria mea minuta erat quia a puero eam non exer-cueram sed omne tempus in usum meum convertebam()numquamnisilegensadcursorem publicum exspectans stabam

Workingasamessengerasofficeattendant and later as a bookkeep-er in Amsterdam bare necessity (necessitas)wasSchliemannrsquosfirstand foremost motivation to learn English The method he desribesis very much that of tireless ef-fortsmemorisingdailyrepetitionimitationandlanguagebathsThepre sence of a teacher is required

9




1842ndash1846









From 1846 on





10

1854 Swedish Polish






1856 Ancient Greek



1856-1858







11










12









13




















14















15


(Plutarchus Ant274)










16













17












18








19








41 Tacitus Ann445






20











21









22








23














24


8 Conclusions








Acknowledgements


25





BIBLIOGRAPHY





























26























9




1842ndash1846









From 1846 on





10

1854 Swedish Polish






1856 Ancient Greek



1856-1858







11










12









13




















14















15


(Plutarchus Ant274)










16













17












18








19








41 Tacitus Ann445






20











21









22








23














24


8 Conclusions








Acknowledgements


25





BIBLIOGRAPHY





























26























10

1854 Swedish Polish






1856 Ancient Greek



1856-1858







11










12









13




















14















15


(Plutarchus Ant274)










16













17












18








19








41 Tacitus Ann445






20











21









22








23














24


8 Conclusions








Acknowledgements


25





BIBLIOGRAPHY





























26























11










12









13




















14















15


(Plutarchus Ant274)










16













17












18








19








41 Tacitus Ann445






20











21









22








23














24


8 Conclusions








Acknowledgements


25





BIBLIOGRAPHY





























26























12









13




















14















15


(Plutarchus Ant274)










16













17












18








19








41 Tacitus Ann445






20











21









22








23














24


8 Conclusions








Acknowledgements


25





BIBLIOGRAPHY





























26























13




















14















15


(Plutarchus Ant274)










16













17












18








19








41 Tacitus Ann445






20











21









22








23














24


8 Conclusions








Acknowledgements


25





BIBLIOGRAPHY





























26























14















15


(Plutarchus Ant274)










16













17












18








19








41 Tacitus Ann445






20











21









22








23














24


8 Conclusions








Acknowledgements


25





BIBLIOGRAPHY





























26























15


(Plutarchus Ant274)










16













17












18








19








41 Tacitus Ann445






20











21









22








23














24


8 Conclusions








Acknowledgements


25





BIBLIOGRAPHY





























26























16













17












18








19








41 Tacitus Ann445






20











21









22








23














24


8 Conclusions








Acknowledgements


25





BIBLIOGRAPHY





























26























17












18








19








41 Tacitus Ann445






20











21









22








23














24


8 Conclusions








Acknowledgements


25





BIBLIOGRAPHY





























26























18








19








41 Tacitus Ann445






20











21









22








23














24


8 Conclusions








Acknowledgements


25





BIBLIOGRAPHY





























26























19








41 Tacitus Ann445






20











21









22








23














24


8 Conclusions








Acknowledgements


25





BIBLIOGRAPHY





























26























20











21









22








23














24


8 Conclusions








Acknowledgements


25





BIBLIOGRAPHY





























26























21









22








23














24


8 Conclusions








Acknowledgements


25





BIBLIOGRAPHY





























26























22








23














24


8 Conclusions








Acknowledgements


25





BIBLIOGRAPHY





























26























23














24


8 Conclusions








Acknowledgements


25





BIBLIOGRAPHY





























26























24


8 Conclusions








Acknowledgements


25





BIBLIOGRAPHY





























26























25





BIBLIOGRAPHY





























26























26























polyglots in roman antiquity. writing socio-cultural

Documents