The Greek culture, called ↓Hellenism, had been spreading for some time through Greek trade and colonization, but Alexander’s conquests provided far greater impetus than before. The Greek language became the ↓lingua franca, or common trade and diplomatic language. By New Testament times Greek had established itself as the street language even in Rome, where the indigenous proletariat spoke Latin but the great mass of slaves and freedmen spoke Greek (compare Paul’s writing his Letter