In a bizarre trend sweeping social media, men claim that they think about the Roman Empire as often as once a week — leaving women baffled.
The trend seemingly originated early this month after one user posted to X — previously known as Twitter — sharing her husband’s response after asking him: “How often do you think about the Roman Empire?”.
To that, her husband responded without missing a beat: “Every day”.
After the Tweet started to gain traction across X, other women decided to test the theory, which prompted many videos on TikTok showing them asking their male partners the same question.
And, weirdly enough, the theory was quickly proven, as many men in the videos confidently announced they think about the days of Marcus Aurelius frequently, sometimes as much as once a week.
It’s clear the newly encountered phenomenon had many totally baffled as to how many male brains do, in fact, lead to Rome, with the TikTok hashtag #romanempire now reaching over 900 million views.
“I’m convinced they’re all just pulling a prank on us,” one user wrote.
“Mine said every time it rains,” another added.
One shocked commenter said: “This trend is rocking my whole world”.
“My husband said “it is a duty of a man to think about the Roman Empire” like wtf?” another user added.
But the jokes haven’t come without the queries, with many eager to get to the bottom of the Roman Empire thought process, figuring out why a government formed 2000 years ago consumes so many men’s hearts and minds.
Hannah Cornwell, a historian of the ancient world at Britain’s Birmingham University, theorized it could be because of the images conjured when Ancient Rome is mentioned — which is further imprinted by Hollywood blockbusters like Gladiator and Spartacus.
Cornwell told the Washington Post that “an image of the Roman legion, the imperial eagle and that sort of military aspect” are the first things that come to mind when thinking of the Roman Empire.
Delving into the psychology aspect a bit further, Dr Alicia Brown from Turning Tides Psychology suggests that another reason could be its association with “strength”.
According to Brown, historically and culturally, men are often aligned with ideals of power, and the Roman Empire epitomizes tales of strength, conquest, and grandeur.
Historical tales from that era evoke intrigue, particularly for those interested in understanding the origins of societal strength and resilience.
Despite it seeming like a gendered-influenced thought pattern, women have come out of the woodwork to counteract it, stating that thinking about the Roman Empire has more to do with personal fascination rather than having a “male brain”.
“Yes, straight men do spend an indescribable amount of time thinking about the Roman Empire — but so does everyone else who’s curious about the past and the lessons it offers about modern culture,” said Cecily Mauran on Mashable.
陳旭@perth 