In Roman times, how did the Roman's communicate with peoples that they had never encountered before and spoke different languages? for example, how did Caesar negotiate with the British when he invaded the island?

by NemoNobody_2092

Surely he would have needed a Roman that spoke their language or vice versa?

alraban

A short answer in two parts:

  1. Romans routinely made alliances with local factions and employed local or provincial soldiers as auxiliaries in military campaigns. For example, Caesar's army operating in Gaul had (at many points in the campaigns) some number of allied Gallic tribesmen as auxiliaries as well as allied Gallic chiefs and kings who had thrown in with Caesar.

  2. The Romans typically did not encounter people who had no contact with the outside world at all; they typically worked progressively through local intermediaries. To use your example: Britain, though an island, had some trade with mainland Gaul by Caesar's own account. Numismatic evidence supports the claim of Gallic contact and trade at the very least, and there likely was some amount of Gallic raiding and/or settlement as well. So in the specific case of Britain, there were already some number of Gauls present in Britain and/or trading with Britain. Those Gauls either knew the British language or some Britons knew the Gallic language (more likely some of each), and Caesar had a number of Gauls working with him as political allies and auxiliary soldiers.

You can see this dynamic of speaking through local intermediaries play out in Caesar's Commentaries. Prior to his first invasion of Britain, Caesar questioned the Gallic merchants who traded with the Britons about Britain. But the merchants provided no helpful information, instead returning to Britain and warning the British about Caesar's inquiries (demonstrating that there was a shared language between at least some traders and some Britons). The British then sent ambassadors to negotiate with Caesar. Tellingly, when Caesar sent the British ambassadors back to Britain with a message, he sent one of his Gallic allies with them to negotiate on his behalf. This strongly suggests that the ambassadors and Caesar's Gallic ally had at least one language in common.

So Caesar didn't need to find a Roman who spoke the same tongue as the British or vice versa, he needed only to find a friendly Gaul who spoke the British language (or the British found ambassadors who spoke the Gallic language).

[For the relevant passage, see the Commentaries on the Gallic War 4.20-4.22]