Greek Literacy

At the end of the Roman era, knowledge of Greek rapidly disappeared in the wake of Latin Christendom (King, 2003). At the beginning of the Renaissance, Latin was a widely familiar language, often used in regular conversation, and by nuns and priests as church liturgy (King, 2003). Despite the wide use of the language, however, there was a rather limited number of Latin texts compared to the vast amount of texts written in Greek (King, 2003). Therefore, as part of their desire to further learn about the culture and ideas of the ancient Greek, humanists studied the language in order to decipher these numerous works (King, 2003). Not only did this reintroduce a previously forgotten method of communication, but the rise in Greek literacy also provided a vast intellectual range that had previously been limited (King, 2003). This was due to the fact Greek tradition possessed a greater knowledge in various subjects than Latin tradition had (King, 2003). The work of Greek writers proved quite influential for future writers, including the likes of William Shakespeare (King, 2003).

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