A new TikTok trend where women ask men how often they think about the Roman Empire has revealed an obsession amongst some men with the Roman age. The trend was started by user Saskia Cort when she asked her followers to ask their male relations how often they think about the Roman Empire, creating a #RomanEmpire trend with almost 1 billion views.
Should this TikTok trend simply be read as fun, or could it signify underlying sexism in the modern age? Some have made a connection between movies – such as ‘Gladiator’ by Ridley Scott, Video Games such as ‘Rome: Total War’ and popular TV shows such as ‘Rome’ on HBO – and male enthusiasm towards Roman history. Professor Callian Davenport, who lectures in Classics at the Australian National University, argues that these misleading portrayals of the Roman Empire, which depict heroic gladiators donned in togas and medallions, ignores aspects of the Roman epoch such as brutality slavery and colonialism, themes which are often absent from mainstream media portrayals. Most men harbour a misunderstanding of the nuances of the Roman Empire, preferring to remember architectural changes such as aqueducts and political systems.
The continuation of ideals of masculinity from strength and well-built bodies is still prominent in many men’s minds. Some men have admitted they think about the Roman Empire at the gym given the similarities between the typical representation of a gladiator male body with modern beauty standards. However, historians such as Hannah Cornwell have shown that emperors were not always hyper-masculine as today’s popular culture would suggest. Historical sources show Sextus Varius Avitus Bassianus, or Elagabalus experimented with cross-dressing. The TikTok trend shows that men obsess over the media-created version of the Roman Empire, rather than the actual truths of the past. Instead, the trend shows that many young men idealise a strong, athletic figure, reflecting contemporary body-image pressures.
But what does the male fascination of the Roman Empire as a golden age for male power represent in the present day? Historian Mary Beard explains men subconsciously look to the supposed feats of men in the past as a “macho fantasy.” The TikTok trend could reveal how men look to the Roman Empire to justify a patriarchal society in the present. Many experts argue the TikTok trend really reveals how many men idealise a patriarchal era.
However, the #RomanEmpire TikTok trend is deceptive. The Student asked some Edinburgh University students how often they think about the Roman Empire and most responded that they rarely do so. One student, 19, said how he had “never really thought about the Roman Empire much.” Another, explained how the emergence of the “new TikTok trend is the only time I ever really think about it”, while a further student ,18, admitted to finding the TikTok trend “cringe” and “unrealistic.” Clearly, TikTok trends are not concrete evidence of young people’s attitudes.
In response, ‘My Roman Empire’ memes poke fun at men’s obsession with the Roman Empire, with women putting forward their own versions of the Roman Empire with comparisons to their obsession with Taylor Swift and Fleabag.
The light-hearted response from women has revealed that women can respond to mentions of sexism and oppression through different means (or in this case memes). The female reaction to this trend has overpowered the original TikTok, which has started an important conversation about the misleading portrayal of the Roman world in the media. However, the tendency to over-analyse social media trends ignores that most men do not want a pseudo-Roman world to return.
Social media should seek to highlight the prominence of patriarchal values in modern society to promote feminist conversations, however looking at TikTok videos is evidently not the best source of factual information about young people’s social attitudes.
“Ancient Rome” by Miguel Virkkunen Carvalho is licensed under CC BY 2.0.