“Secrets of the Colosseum: Ancient Roman Gossip Book Reignites Scandal in the Modern Bestseller Charts!”
Holland’s piece in The Times draws many parallels between the scandalous lives and administrations of Roman emperors and modern politics. The author even suggests that Suetonius’ description of President Donald Trump would not be altogether different than how he distinctively portrayed the Caesars.
“Everyone instinctively knows what is being evoked: power, charisma, menace,” he wrote. “The Caesars, in the public imagination, are figures less of history than of gold-lit, shadow-haunted myth. One day, perhaps, the same will be said of Trump.”
Public DomainPresident Donald Trump’s inaugural portrait, 2025.
However, it isn’t just the current administration that invokes this comparison. The governing systems of the United States and much of the Western world are heavily derived from ancient Rome, and those echoes reverberate loudly even today.
Parallels Between Ancient Rome And The Modern United States Draw Fascination
“We feel closer to the Romans, perhaps, than we do to the Egyptians or the Assyrians,” Tom Holland noted when describing why people remain so interested in ancient Rome.
The American government is a republic, with elected officials meant to represent the desires of their constituents, a system that evokes ancient Rome and Greece. Before the national motto of the United States became “In God We Trust,” it was in Latin: “E pluribus unum” (“Out of many, one”).
There are countless comparisons to be made between the two nations, which could also play into some of the anxieties felt by modern Americans.
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