NEW YORK — How often do men think about the Roman Empire? Shockingly often, at least according to a viral trend that has prompted women around the world to ask the men in their lives how frequently the ancient civilisation crosses their minds.

Videos of online users, mostly women, approaching their male counterparts to ask them the question, seemingly out of the blue, have been sweeping TikTok — and the answer is frequently startling.

“Technically, like every day,” came one man’s answer, eliciting an incredulous laugh from his girlfriend.

Responses from multiple other men range from as often as multiple times a day to at least once a month, and are almost always met with a surprised “what? why?”.

“How could you not think of the Roman Empire?” retorted one man in disbelief.

But what exactly about the Roman Empire are these men so obsessed with?

Several of them argued that there are many lessons to be learnt from the rich history of ancient Rome. 

“So many things in our lives today were influenced by the Roman Empire,” wrote one Reddit user in a post.

“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.”

One person mentioned that he thinks about the sewage system created during the empire every time he sits on the porcelain throne.

Meanwhile, American socialite and reality TV star Paris Hilton’s husband, Carter Reum, simply answered: Togas (referring to the distinctive outer garment of ancient Romans). 

The revelation has some online users reeling while others are convinced it is just a big, well-coordinated prank.

One TikTok comment read: “They have to be pranking us! They are doing this on purpose, this cannot be real.”

Many online users, however, pointed out that the trend is based on a gross generalisation.

“I’m a man and have never thought about the Roman Empire,” wrote one netizen.

Another added: "I’ve asked all the men in my life and none of them think of the Roman Empire unless there is a (documentary) on."

HOW DID THE TREND START?

Although the Roman Empire trend now mostly lives on TikTok, the question was sparked by a post on Instagram by Swedish influencer Saskia Cort.

In August last year, the 32-year-old posed a question to her followers: “What do straight, single men think about?”

Ms Cort then shared the reply of one follower, who answered: “1) Think about nothing. 2) Think about the Roman Empire.”

Ms Cort claims that her Instagram inbox then “exploded” with direct messages from other women who seconded the answer. This led Ms Cort to the realisation that contemplating about the Roman Empire was a thing that men tended to do.

The question “how often do you think about the Roman Empire?” subsequently went viral in Sweden in September 2022, earning Ms Cort interviews with various local media.

But it was not until August this year that international media picked up on Ms Cort’s theory on men after it was translated into English and reposted by Roman reenactor “Gaius Flavius”.

Since then the social media trend seems to have snowballed.

Citing Google Trends data, American news website USA Today reported that searches for "Roman Empire" recorded a 10-year high this month. It was also the top trending query related to “facts” with a six-fold increase in searches over the past week.

Even internet users in Singapore are curious, with search numbers for the term "Roman Empire" spiking on Google Singapore from Sept 10 to Sept 16.

Videos tagged #romanempire and #romanempiretrend have amassed 1.2 billion and 32.2 million views on TikTok respectively.

‘ROMANSPLAINING’

This renewed and widespread interest in the Roman Empire has inevitably inspired a slew of online content on various aspects of the ancient civilisation, from its emperors to its bloodiest battles and even the sex scandals.

The sudden influx of Roman history enthusiasts however has given birth to the term “Romansplaining”, a portmanteau of the words Roman and explaining, presumably spun off from the slang word “mansplaining”.

“Mansplaining” is when a man explains something, usually to a woman, in a condescending, overconfident, and often inaccurate or oversimplified manner, according to Dictionary.com. So to “Romansplain” is to do the same but about, well, Romans.

On Sept 15, TikTok user “thejordonbrown” posted a rant calling out “toxic” Roman Empire fans who insulted him for admitting in an earlier video to not thinking about the empire “very much”.

Mimicking some of these fans, Mr Brown says: “‘But Jordon, every time I drive past a farm and I see irrigation, I can’t help but think about the Roman Empire.’” 

He retorts: “When you drive past a farm and you see farm workers, do you think about Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta and the unionisation of farm workers? You don’t? Weird that you focused on the imperial history and not anything else.”

He continues: “Every time you see a railroad track, you’re like ‘Oh, that’s the width of a Roman chariot’ but you never think about the immigrants that built the roads. Why do you think that is?”

Mr Brown then goes on to imply that their obsession with the Roman Empire is a sign of toxic masculinity and white supremacy.

In a similar video slamming the trend, a TikTok user named Dean questions the veracity behind the claims made by some of these men.

"Why would anyone think about the Roman Empire every week?" he said.

Mr Dean goes on to challenge the claim that the empire was the "greatest" of all time and lists out several other powerful civilisations from history such as the Persians, the Ottoman Turks, the Mongols and the Incas. He ends off by dismissing the trend as simply "dumb".

‘THIS IS MY ROMAN EMPIRE’

The wildly popular trend has spurred many women, as well as non-binary people, to ponder about their own “Roman Empire”, loosely defined by The New York Times as “the topics one contemplates in private more than anyone realises”.

The trend has gained momentum amongst X users, who are tweeting about anything from their favourite musical artistes to the most memorable scenes from a show, along with the caption "This is my Roman Empire".

It has also sparked an online discussion on what the women equivalent of the "Roman Empire" is.

The answers thrown into the mix so far are as varied as Princess Diana, witches and being assaulted or murdered but one option seems to have resonated with many: "How often do you think about your ex-best friend?"