Why is everyone talking about the Roman Empire? Inside the TikTok trend that's become a surprising litmus test.

The Roman Empire is seeing a surprising resurgence this week thanks to a recent TikTok trend.

Videos with the hashtag #theromanempiretrend raked in more than 31 million views.

Swedish influencer Saskia Cort posted a video in September 2022 that encouraged her followers to ask their male partners how often they think about the Roman Empire .

As seen on social media, women are perplexed.

Mark Zuckerberg said he thinks about the Roman Empire too much.

Carson Daly said on the Today show that he thought about it “every day” NFL ’s Rob Gronkowski said “only when I watch the movie Gladiator , so once every three years ”.