Why did the Romans allow Greek, rather than Latin, to be the administrative language of the Eastern empire?

by Vladith

I'm aware that most educated Romans knew Greek, but didn't this substantially hamper government work? It seems to add a huge obstacle, especially when coordinating with the presumably Latinate military.

foliosumsimilis

The short answer to your question is that at least officially Greek only became the administrative language of the Eastern empire under emperor Heraclius (~150 years after the Western imperial insignia had been turned in).

Inofficially the transition may well have been under way a hundred years earlier - e.g. the Novellae Constitutiones of Justinian were first published in Greek.