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<DIV>There were two elite languages -Latin and Greek, for the Western and Eastern halves of the Empire. It would not be fair to say that the elite came from any particular location (Italy or Thrace). Many of the Emperors from late antiquity came from the area now known as Yugoslavia (Which I believe was the llatin speaking part of the Empire). An entire dynasty of Emperors was from North Africa and may spoken Punic as well as Aramaic. SR</DIV>
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<BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid">-------------- Original message -------------- <BR>From: Chris Doss <lookoverhere1@yahoo.com> <BR><BR>> There is such variety of knowledge among posters here, <BR>> so I thought I would ask y'all: <BR>> <BR>> I was doing a kind of thought comparison of the <BR>> Russian and Ottoman Empires and their internal <BR>> structures, specifically the highly multiethnic <BR>> structure of their elites (which I supposed is to be <BR>> expected of contiguous land empires) as opposed to the <BR>> European sea empires. Which leads me to ask: <BR>> <BR>> As far as we know, how multiethnic was the elite of <BR>> the Roman Empire? (What the heck did "Roman" mean <BR>> anyway in the late Empire? Someone of Italian birth?) <BR>> <BR>> Thanks! Vale! <BR>> <BR>> <BR>> <BR>> ________________________________________________________________________________
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