Throughout the Middle Ages, Byzantine Greeks self-identified as Romaioi or Romioi (Greek: Ῥωμαῖοι, Ρωμιοί, meaning "Romans") and Graikoi (Γραικοῖ, meaning "Greeks"). Linguistically, they spoke Byzantine or Medieval Greek, known as "Romaic"[13] which is situated between the Hellenistic (Koine), and modern phases of the language.[14] Byzantines, perceived themselves as the descendants of classical Greece,[15][16][17] the political heirs of imperial Rome,[18][19] and followers of the Apostles.[15] Thus, their sense of "Romanity" was different from that of their contemporaries in the West. "Romaic" was the name of the vulgar Greek language, as opposed to "Hellenic" which was its literary or doctrinal form.[20]