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Rome Isn't Real
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About
Rome Isn't Real is a controversial conspiracy theory that many of the deeds, works and artifacts attributed to the Ancient Roman empire were in fact the work of other cultures, thus, "Rome" as we understand it today is a historical construction. The theory, put forth most prominently by TikToker @momllennial, sparked harsh backlash on TikTok in late 2021 and became the subject of Twitter discourse in late 2022 after the user presented her argument on the platform.
Origin
On November 16th, 2021, TikToker @momllennial posted a TikTok arguing that Ancient Rome did not exist and that it was made up by the Spanish Inquisition.[1] Though the TikTok was deleted, it was reposted on November 21st by Twitter user @CogitoEgo15 (shown below).
Rome wasn’t real. Latin was invented in the 1500s. Right, Classicists, we can all go home. 😬 pic.twitter.com/sDiImLNylc
— 🎄Mrs C 𓏞 (@CogitoErgo15) November 21, 2021
Momllennial's key argument is that there are "zero" primary documents from Ancient Rome. She claims that Ancient Roman texts are written in Greek and that Ancient Rome was the modern-day equivalent of Disneyland, a real place but not an actual global power.[1] In other TikToks, she argued that a surviving piece of Latin poetry written by Gauis Cornelius Gallus was actually written in Greek.
On November 23rd, 2021, she posted a three-minute TikTok laying out the foundations of her argument that Rome "didn't exist," arguing any records of Rome were written by the Catholic Church in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries but none of the original primary documents remained (repost shown below).
@momllennial_returns History is written – and rewritten – by the survivors. #fyp #foryou #fypシ #ancienthistory #history #archaeology #romeisalie #DrPepperTuitionContest ♬ Music Instrument – Gerhard Siagian
Spread
Momllennial's TikToks caused a swift stir among online historians, who worked to debunk her claims. For example, on November 19th, 2021, TikToker and classical studies professor Maxwell T Paule posted a debunking of her claim that the Gauis Cornelius Gallus poem was written in Greek by pointing out that it is indeed written in Latin. The TikTok gained over 29,000 likes in one year (shown below, left). On November 23rd, user now_chaterian posted a TikTok arguing momllennial's claim that Hadrian's Wall was actually a road by saying they had physically seen Hadrian's Wall and it was in fact, a wall (shown below, right).
@profmaxwell A stitch with @momllennial_ . #conspiracy #Latin #Greek ♬ original sound – Maxwell T Paule
@now_chaterien #stitch with @momllennial_ this take has fully broken me. I cannot. #hadrianswall #scottishtiktok ♬ ChooseYourCharacter – Jim Walter
On November 19th, 2022, Momllennial then reposted her three-minute thesis about Rome being a cultural invention to Twitter,[2] bringing the theory to a wider audience. It was more widely mocked on Twitter, and soon, jokes about Rome being a hoax began spreading on the platform. On November 26th, Twitter user @nameshiv[3] posted a joke about how Momllennial was an incredible main character for the platform, gaining over 2,000 retweets and 43,000 likes in two days (shown below, top). On November 25th, user @Sashamak[4] imagined a conversation about the controversy between Seinfeld characters, gaining over 1,200 retweets and 20,000 likes in three days (shown below, bottom).
Various Examples
Search Interest
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Top Comments
ghost of aerie
Nov 28, 2022 at 08:43PM EST
Commodore V
Nov 29, 2022 at 10:18AM EST