The chariot races and gladiator fights of the Roman Empire haven’t, apparently, been totally lost to the ages.
A new TikTok trend is pulling back the curtains shrouding the minds of boyfriends, husbands and partners to reveal that many hold a burning fire for ancient Rome — including TODAY's own Carson Daly.
Carson said during PopStart on Sept. 15 he thinks about the Roman Empire very often.
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"I do, every day," Carson said to the shock of his co-hosts. "First of all, the movie 'Gladiator' is in every guy’s top five favorite movies. Joe Rogan’s podcast is wildly popular, and there’s this trend to have this modern understanding of ancient philosophies like stoicism, cold plunging is a big thing right now, keto. Looking for guidance and self-improvement and it all harkens back to Marcus Aurelius. This is the Roman Empire."
In the last 24 hours, posts with the hashtag #romanempire have pulled in millions of views at a time as women ask the men in their lives just how often they think about the Roman Empire.
“How many times, like a week, or just how many times in general, do you think about the Roman Empire?” Ashley Lance —@idkhowyoufoundme — asks her boyfriend at the beginning of a post that has now gained 5.4 million views.
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Lance’s partner appears amused initially before he genuinely pauses to consider this.
He looks up and shakes his head. “What about the Roman Empire?”
(To be fair, the period is expansive.)
“Just anything about it,” Lance encourages.
“Not a lot. Why?”
“When was the last time you thought about it?” Lance prods.
After thinking it over, her boyfriend replies, “Maybe a week or two ago.”
When she laughs, he reminds her that “the Roman Empire was a very big part of history.”
Not long after posting the video to her page on Sept. 13, women on TikTok set out to confront their own partners.
“Elaborate,” former Nickelodeon actor Kira Kosarin demands in a post shared to the platform.
His initial reply was, “Three times a day.”
“I guess technically, like every day,” the boyfriend of user Georgia Ferraris (@georgiaferraris_) shrugs in a separate post. “If you speak English, you’re thinking about the Roman Empire,” he adds matter of fact.
At the end of the video, Ferraris drops the mic to reveal the background of her boyfriend’s phone: a picture of the painting “Oath of the Horatii,” which depicts a scene from Roman legend.
A user who goes by @delara.esq on TikTok brought forth a theory after polling several of her male friends.
“I’ll say it was a mixed bag,” Delara explains. “At least half said daily, which to me was shocking, because who’s thinking about the Roman Empire daily? But then the other half kind of nonchalantly, they’re like, ‘You know, I’m working on my own empire or whatever.’”
As for the men who said that they think about the Roman Empire daily, Delara theorizes that the period comes to mind while thinking of their lives in terms of direction.
“They’re really thinking about it in terms of love, war, strategy, betrayal, like, themes like that, that could be present in our day-to-day lives,” she explained.
As for the other TODAY hosts, Craig Melvin admitted sometimes he sees something that triggers him to think about the Roman Empire, but said it seems like some men are just thinking about it on their own.
"I think it’s become part of the new young man psyche," Carson replied.
However, TODAY’s Al Roker had a very different response: "I haven’t thought about it since I took Latin."
This story first appeared on TODAY.com. More from TODAY:
