Women are obsessed with the Romans, too

Infamy! Infamy! That was my response to the TikTok trend about ancient Rome. Women asked their partners how often they thought about the Roman Empire. Many men admitted they thought about it every day; three times a day, said one. One confessed he was obsessed with ‘aqueducts and the fact that they had concrete that could harden’.

The scoundrels who came up with the idea should have asked women. Because they, too, are obsessed with ancient Rome.

Professor Mary Beard told me: ‘I must confess that I probably think about the Roman Empire about 50 times a day… but then it is what I do. But I don’t think about macho men in military kit or orating in togas. Sure, I do think about emperors. But I tend to think more about the women and the slaves and the ordinary. I think women do tend to see a bit beneath the surface.’

That’s the thing about the Roman Empire. It was so huge and impressive and lasted for so long that you can pick and choose which bit of it to daydream over.

The classicist Daisy Dunn says: ‘I think about the Roman Empire embarrassingly often – not just when I’m writing about it. I’ll be at something as English as a picnic when I look at my sandwich and suddenly ask my friends: “Did you know the Romans had sandwiches? And have you seen the paintings of pizza at Pompeii?” The Roman Empire was far from paradise for most women, but the food was good, the poetry exciting, and public architecture was a source of pride, which is often more than can be said today.’

Men probably do think about the Roman Empire more than women.