Name: The Roman empire. Age: More or less wound up by 476AD, although it still occupies a significant amount of territory today. Where? In the minds of men. What men? All men. I don’t think that can be true. When did you last think about the Roman empire? Well, I’m thinking about it now, but you started this. Actually, it was started by Saskia Cort, a Swedish influencer who instructed her Instagram followers to ask their male partners and friends how often they thought about the Roman empire. And the answer will surprise me? Indeed. It turns out that lots of men think about the Roman empire several times a week. That does sound a lot. When Cort’s idea was translated into English, the topic went viral. The Roman empire went viral? In a sense: women across the globe started asking men how often they thought about it and posting their responses on TikTok. What is the average? It’s hard to answer that precisely from the available sample, but “three or four times a month”, “every couple of days” and “at least once a day” are common responses. It sounds as if this trend has opened a Pandora’s box, to reference Roman mythology. Pandora was Greek, but yeah – just asking the question can unleash a torrent of “Romansplaining” from men eager to justify their interest. Romansplaining? More than you ever wanted to know about aqueducts, basically. Is it weird that men think about ancient Rome so often? Many of the women in the TikTok videos seem genuinely surprised, even shocked. So women aren’t pondering the legacy of the Roman empire three times a month? Well, obviously, Mary Beard thinks about it all the time, as do lots of other women. Indeed, the viral question has led to a backlash over its inherent sexism and gender stereotyping. But as a handy rule of thumb? Oh, women never think about the Roman empire. So I shouldn’t give my girlfriend earrings from the Pompeii gift shop for her birthday? If you don’t know her well enough to answer that question, don’t risk it. Of course, there must be men who never think about the Roman empire. Apparently not. Do say: “Not to mention the network of paved roads – 55,000 miles of them across Europe – and sanitation, medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation …” Don’t say: “Are you filming me?”