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"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:

1. ‘Western Civilisation’
Ok let’s start with perhaps the most obvious one. So many of the ideas of the Alt Right are founded around the idea of ‘Western’ society being under attack. And of course, that really just means whatever their own notions of how the world should be, coupled with white supremacist ideals. They naturally trace this civilisation back to the ancient world, starting with Greece but in particular the Romans. A number of the points below will cover why more interest is put in the Romans as these cultural ancestors.

Of course, within any of these points there is a fair deal of truth. Roman influence on European culture has lasted long after they departed that sphere, and continues to this day. However, there is also an exceptional amount of cherry-picking that goes into this - only the parts that align with their ideals go into the mix, the rest is passed off as the causes of social and political decline in Rome. This brings us to the next point.

2. Cultural Decline
A huge part of any online discussion around Rome, especially in right/conservative spheres, is about the ‘decline and fall’ of Rome - to borrow the phrase from someone who was a major contributor to this. These people are ultimately looking for single, obvious reasons for the collapse of the Roman Empire, that will of course align with their current criticisms of society. It’s also interesting to note that so often these discussions only relate to the Western Roman Empire, as the Eastern half continued seemed to do much better…

You only have to skim through the usual comment threads and conversations to see the ulterior motives of these groups. The first and most common ‘reason’ for Rome’s fall will be something along the line of ‘immigration’ or too many foreigners. This is of course a thinly-veiled attempt to justify rich white countries with discriminatory immigration policies that seek to exclude people from non-white countries - just look at Trump and the border wall.

Another common word you will see, and this one is truly a dog-whistle for the alt-right is ‘degeneracy’. Anything that does not align with their moral and social views is seen as an ultimate cause of the society’s collapse - and therefore an excuse to rail against similar, progressive movements in society. You’ll also probably see some exceptional takes about lead pipes, which are just laughable to read but there you go.

3. Military Emphasis
Another possibly obvious reason is the emphasis placed on the Roman army both in modern and ancient writing. There is no doubt the Roman Army was, at many times, an incredible fighting machine that helped them expand their territories across the Mediterranean. And it’s also true that it is genuinely interesting for a whole range of learners to explore the tactics, formations, equipment and life of Roman soldiers - who doesn’t love waving a sword around a little bit? But it’s the association with modern military and weapons where things get tricky.

The Roman army certainly existed in a time of near constant warfare. It was, essentially, a normal part of life for many states and cities. This was the reality of life in the Ancient World, where men were generally expected to serve in the military in their youth, as numbers mattered. The world today is not the same, and after devastating World Wars and nuclear armaments, the need for fighting forces has decreased somewhat (unless you are the American military industrial complex).

This is yet again another type of ‘decline’ these people cling to - the idea that warfare is an inherent part of masculinity and culture. Add to this the proliferation of guns in one particular country and the backlash against any sort of reform - well you can see once again where the victimhood comes from. Rome therefore becomes a glorious past that these people can hearken back to - where you could go out, fight some barbarians and probably die of an internal injury that medicine couldn’t treat? Oh well.

4. Stoicism
Another interesting intersection of the right and Classics is the field of philosophy. While one might usually associate the discipline with rational thinking and reason, it is also the breeding ground of modern pseudo-philosophy, that can be twisted and used to support any particular belief or ideology. The Jordan Petersons of this world have particularly latched onto Roman stoicism as a fertile source for this. The stoics emphasised self-discipline and control, and rejection of emotion. This is an easy leap to rejecting progressive views on the basis of their emotive value and appeal to empathy.

Furthermore, the poster-boy of this movement is the Emperor Marcus Aurelius, whose ‘meditations’ seems to be required reading in the Incel 101 course. It’s incredible how quickly these types will come out of the woodwork if you dare to criticise what is essentially an incredibly wealthy and powerful person telling you not to stress or worry about things in life. His emphasis in particular on ‘vice’ and ‘virtue’ is essentially a clean slate for people to insert whatever beliefs they hold into each category and go from there.

5. Nationalism & Fascism
The appeal of Rome as a national brand cannot be understated. To people who hold extreme nationalist views - that people in their nation are superior to others, and by extension other people are inferior - the Romans serve as a blueprint for identity and expansion. All of this, of course, is based on the unified vision they have of Rome from the limited amount of knowledge they have, and their view of Roman culture as a monolith. It necessarily avoids their reliance on assimilation and syncretism to maintain a large Empire, and rather sees the spread of 'Roman’ culture as a one way deal.

It’s probably no surprise that Mussolini, who famously introduced fascism to the world, was greatly inspired by the Romans. The word itself is derived from the fasces, a Roman symbol of power and authority that also represented strength through unity. Being Italian himself, it was a short leap to restore the ‘glory’ of the past and help imbue Italians with a great sense of national pride. So much can be seen from what he did in modern alt right movements, except now these hinge not on a geographical connection, but a flimsy historical one and a convoluted racial one, that make up the ‘western civilisation’ component of neo-fascism.

How do we push back against these ideas?
Of course, knowing all this is one thing, but actively fighting against this misappropriation of the Classical world is another thing entirely. The easiest way is to find the things that annoys these people most and keep pushing at that - you can always tell when their ideas are being dissolved by facts, because the personal attacks come out. If you can withstand that, here are a few ideas we can push back on:

Rome was not a monolith - Roman society, culture, politics and even geography varied immensely across a thousand years. It cannot be reduced down to one time, place or people, and those who seek to do this are often cherry-picking the parts that suit them best.

Rome was not always an Empire - it’s always interesting when people will pick ideas and figures from the Republic but attribute them to the Empire. A large amount of Rome’s expansion was complete before 27 BCE, yet the Imperial Romans are often credited with it.

Rome was not ‘white’ - the notion of whiteness is a modern one, and Romans would never have seen themselves in this way. Furthermore, if we’re talking actual skin colour Italians would hardly have the pale white skin that these people often depict them with. In fact it was only a few decades ago that Italians coming to America were still being racially targeted for their non-whiteness…

Rome had a diverse population - the Republic and Empire spanned multiple modern continents, and had inhabitants from all corners of the world they had contact with. Citizenship was limited, but those who lived within Rome’s bounds would have seen a wide variety of ethnicities, skin colours, religions and languages on a daily basis.

Rome had distinct social classes - most of the records we have come from the upper class authors, who wrote from a certain perspective. Therefore while we might know what an Emperor thought about Stoicism, or a conservative senator had to say about homosexuality, there would have been a huge and diverse range of opinions on any topic within even the city of Rome.

All of these issues have much greater nuance than any of the alt-right people care to look into. In fact, it serves their cause for us to not dig beyond the surface, so that the majority of knowledge about the ancient world is limited to a handful of generalisations. So the best thing you can do is to educate yourself and educate others.

Thanks for reading, I hope it has been illuminating. I’m really only scratching the surface here so if there’s something you think I’ve missed, please drop a comment below. See you next week!"