What's Your Roman Empire?

All over social media, videos abound of women asking their male partners how often they think about the Roman Empire. What's your "Roman Empire"—and why are we drawn to certain periods of history?

Bronze plaque of Mithras slaying the bull, Roman ca. mid 2nd-early 3rd century CE. Via the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

It began as a silly social media trend. Women would point the camera at their boyfriends and husbands and ask, “How often do you think about the Roman Empire?”

The results were initially astonishing—men all over the United States (most of the videos I came across involved Americans) claimed that they thought about Rome at least once a day. However, we all know that social media is often artificial and manufactured. It’s this reason that in my videos on folklore, history, and literature, I employ a presentational style; frankly, I detest the faux-relatability of these supposedly “raw” and “real life” moments captured on screen. How do I know that this wasn’t staged? How do I know that you didn’t spoon-feed that line to your partner in hopes of garnering views?

I do have to assume that some of these are real, which prompts the question—why Rome? Some commenters have point…