My Roman Empire

Part of a series on How Often Do You Think About the Roman Empire?. [View Related Entries]

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About

My Roman Empire or This Is My Roman Empire is a catchphrase inspired by the How Often Do You Think About the Roman Empire? trend where people share what their "Roman empire" is, meaning something that they think about very often. The phrase started to gain popularity on sites including TikTok and X, formerly Twitter, in mid-September 2023, about a month after the original trend was popularized on social media.

Origin

Throughout September 2023, a trend went viral on TikTok and X where women ask their boyfriends how often they think about the Roman Empire, with the men often responding that they think about the Roman Empire a considerable amount.

In mid-September, people began to use the phrase "this is my Roman Empire" on sites like X and TikTok in content where they describe something that they think about a lot, framing the thing as their "Roman Empire." One of the earliest known posts using the phrase "they are my Roman Empire" was posted by X^[1] user @yowhat27 on September 14th, 2023, sharing an image of Charlie Heaton and Natalia Dyer, known for their work on Stranger Things, kissing, garnering around 40 likes in a month. On September 15th, TikToker^[2] @yourstrulydevon posted a video talking about what her Roman Empire is, garnering over 100,000 views in a month (shown below).

@yourstrulydevon I get more peeved the more I think about it #eattherich #americanpolitics #americancrisis #worktogether #thisisthebadplace #workingclass ♬ original sound – 💠 D E V O N 💠

Spread

The phrase spread on both TikTok and X throughout the course of September. On September 17th, 2023, TikToker^[3] @laurenrewatches posted a Barbie meme using the phrase, garnering over 445,000 views in a month (shown below, left). On the same day, TikToker^[4] @gotscinema posted a version of the meme that gained over 680,000 views in a month (shown below, right).

@laurenrewatches This cover is absolutely flawless #ken #ryangosling #fypシ #kenough #push #matchbox20 #romanempire #imjustken ♬ original sound – Lauren rewatches always sunny

@gotscinema the way he strokes the box 🫠 #harrystyles #foryou #fyp #lhh ♬ original sound – lys 🪩

The trend took off on X around September 18th, when numerous memes were posted using the phrase. For example, on that day, X^[5] user @twilightreborn posted a version of the meme that gained over 27,000 likes in a month. X^[6] user @fleabagreact posted a version that gained over 52,000 likes in the same span of time. On September 24th, X^[7] user @tayvisnation posted a Taylor Swift Travis Kelce meme using the phrase that gained over 16,700 likes in two weeks (shown below).

travis pointing the arrow towards her as he runs on to the field is my roman empire pic.twitter.com/jXvWAuaQFC

— 𝔞𝔟𝔟𝔦𝔢 ♡ (@tayvisnation) September 24, 2023

On September 30th, TikToker^[8] @victoriasmindsett posted a clip from the Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie with the caption, garnering over 5.3 million views in a week (shown below, left). On October 3rd, TikToker^[9] @hannahbaker_gbspam posted a video explaining her Roman Empire, garnering over 3.8 million views in 10 days (shown below, right).