Koine Greek/A Historical Setting for Koine Greek

thumb|upright=1.4|right|The Successor kingdoms before the battle of Ipsus, 303 BC thumb|upright=1.4|right|Linguistic map of the Roman Empire c. 400 Koine Greek (ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος) was the prevalent form of Greek spoken and written during the Hellenistic period, the Roman Empire, and the early Byzantine Empire, whence it evolved into Medieval Greek and then Modern Greek. Spread by Alexander the Great’s conquests in the 4th century BC, it served as the lingua franca of the Mediterranean and Middle East until the time of the Byzantine emperor Justinian (mid-6th century AD). It was primarily based on Attic and Ionic speech forms, with various admixtures from other dialects. In its eastern provinces, the Roman Empire primarily used Greek, even in areas where it wasn’t the dominant language. Local elites and communities, including those in Asia Minor, Arabia, Judaea, Syria, and Egypt, used Greek in inscriptions, documents, and official announcements. Literary Koine was the medium of much post-classical Greek literary and scholarly writing, such as the works of Plutarch and Polybius. Koine is also the language of the Septuagint (the 3rd century BC Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible), the Christian New Testament, and of most early Christian theological writing by the Church Fathers. The Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius wrote his private thoughts in Koine Greek in a work that is now known as Meditations. Koine Greek continues to be used as the liturgical language of services in the Greek Orthodox Church and in some Greek Catholic churches.