Why Rome? Classics & Alt Right: Part 1

Unpacking the alt-right's love affair with a society that never existed

You’d perhaps have to be one of the lucky few who are not terminally online these days not to have noticed the growing presence of outright alt-right views in public spaces, let alone the private corners they used to dwell in. Unfortunately, as I have written about previously, one of their targets, gateways and dog whistles in the use of classical antiquity to spread their ideas. I certainly am no expert on the subject, except perhaps by interaction and the fight against these voices, and many have written much more thoroughly on the subject - works like Donna Zuckerberg’s Not All Dead White Men are definitely worth diving into if you’re more interested.

In this series, I simply wanted to look through some of the most prevalent cultures that they pick on and try to explain why, with a particular emphasis on the myths they propagate and how we can refute and break them. I wanted to start with Ancient Rome because it is both a large, fertile ground for them but also one about which we actually have so much real information. Let’s look at a few reasons Why Rome: