The Roman Empire rules the thoughts of many men, meme finds
Pelagio Palagi’s 1813 painting Julius Caesar dictating the Commentaries may be on the mind of some. Photo: Getty
Grown men think about the Roman Empire on a regular basis, apparently.
The trend started in August when Roman re-enactor Gaius Flavius shared a reel to Instagram encouraging women to ask the men in their lives how often they thought about the fallen Roman Empire.
“You will be surprised by their answers,” he promised.
Many were astonished to learn men thought about the Roman Empire on a regular basis, either weekly or even daily – sometimes multiple times a day.
“There’s so much to think about!” one man said in response to his partner wanting to know more.
“How do you not think about the Roman Empire?” another man fired back.
Take a look at the example below to see what we mean:
@kaitgrange he is a statistic #romanempire #romanempirememe
Since the trend became a viral sensation on TikTok, people have been questioning what the female equivalent is.
Some answers include Tom Holland’s epic lip sync battle where he performed Rihanna’s Umbrella; thinking about ex-best friends or the possibility of getting kidnapped.
Tweet from @emilykmay
Thoughts on the Roman Empire
As many men noted in the videos that followed on TikTok, the Roman Empire is a pretty big deal in terms of history.
One man explained on Reddit that the thought of it just pops into his head whenever he makes a connection in his life.
“So many things in our lives today were influenced by the Roman Empire,” he said.
“Language, food, philosophy, architecture, war, entertainment, sports, mythology, culture … I don’t actively focus on the Roman Empire, but the connection always pops into my head as I go about my daily life.”
@go4positivevibes Genuine excitement that i brought it up. When he breaks into Latin😂 #fyp #romanempire #latin #spqr @Quinn Moran
Historian Dr Patrick Wyman, who has a podcast called Tides of History, offered an opinion on why men are seemingly very interested in that part of history.
Ancient Rome is depicted widely in pop culture, in films like Gladiator and the TV series Spartacus, plus books, documentaries and podcasts, he said.
“Because of its ubiquity, Rome is a really good parallel to the present day for people to think with,” he said.
“So if you’re curious about the world, if you want to understand why our world is the way it is, or how it differs, or how it might be different, then the Roman Empire is a really good place to go looking for those parallels.
“It’s like our world enough that you can make those comparisons without them seeming off; the political system, the economic system, the scale of it, the mass production of goods, ethnic and cultural diversity. All of these things are really good tools for people to think with. It’s really fertile ground for comparison.”
Tweet from @Patrick_Wyman
Caesar was an alpha male
Kevin Feeney teaches an introductory class on Roman history at New York University, and is getting sick of people asking him if men are more interested in this part of history.
By his estimates, about 60 per cent of his class is male and he had a few grim insights as to why some men like the Roman Empire.
He told The New York Times that ancient Roman society was “extremely patriarchal” and popular figures such as Julius Caesar were alpha males.
However, he rejected the idea that women are less interested in history than men.
In an email to the Washington Post, University of Oxford historian Dr Lewis Webb also remarked that “ancient Rome was of course patriarchal and violent”.
“But it was also a diverse place: There were numerous forms of masculinity; women could have agency and power, and there were multiple gender expressions and identities, as well as various sexualities.”
