What is the Roman Empire? And why are men thinking about it every day?
I’m kidding, of course, I know what the Roman Empire is. I had a good grade in world history, but after finishing school, the Roman Empire seldom pops up in my mind day to day.
While it doesn’t resonate in my mind, according to a viral TikTok, it resonates in all men’s minds.
Earlier this month, @gaiusflavius posted on Instagram Reels saying, “Ladies, many of you do not realize how often men think about the Roman Empire. Ask your husband/boyfriend/father/brother- you will be surprised by their answers.”
The reel has over a million views and the question has spread all over social media with women asking why the world they think about the Romans on a near daily basis. .
Apparently, some guys think about the Romans “daily” and others “ a few times a week.” When @paige.elysee on TikTok asked the question to her male friends, the majority said at least once a week, some even once a day. The Roman Empire is living “rent-free” in all of their heads without an explanation.
“Sometimes it’s the long-standing misattribution of the word vomitorium and sometimes it’s just—you know the coliseum looks cool,” answers @heatherandsinna’s boyfriend. “Sometimes Hadrian's Wall just pops in my head.”
In perusing the many videos of this trend, men are deeply fascinated by the paved roads and the aqueducts built by the Romans. And if architecture isn’t their thing, it’s the extensive military history and masculine stoicism that gets them pondering the year 117 AD.
Finally, there are the sensitive men who lay awake at night questioning how the Roman Empire fell after a thousand-year reign. How could they get it so right and then just so wrong?
“You don't know where you're going if you don’t know where you’ve been,” says one man while his girlfriend is incredibly confused.
Around 28, I started thinking about the Roman Empire like once a month. By 30, it was like once a week. Turning 34 next month and I feel like at this point, I am mostly just thinking about the Roman Empire and occasionally take a break to remember to shower or eat or whatever. https://t.co/YozdT8EZ6E
— Ryan Broderick (@broderick) September 13, 2023
The curiosity of learning about ancient civilizations seemingly does not die in men. It stays deep in the hippocampus waiting for a question at bar trivia.
Don’t worry, any woman not currently on the Roman Empire pondering train will definitely purchase a ticket once Paul Mescal is oiled up in the arena in Gladiator 2.
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