Have you ever ever checked out Mark Zuckerberg’s hair? Like actually, actually checked out it? In the event you did, you would possibly get the primary whiff of the Fb CEO’s long-held obsession.

Mark Zuckerberg needs to be similar to Augustus Caesar.

Zuckerberg advised The New Yorker in a 2018 profile that he began finding out Latin in highschool at Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire. It was there that Historic Rome turned his Roman Empire — a topic that has continued to fascinate him. 

“You’ve gotten all these good and dangerous and sophisticated figures. I believe Augustus is without doubt one of the most fascinating,” Zuckerberg advised The New Yorker. “Mainly, via a extremely harsh strategy, he established 200 years of world peace.” 

In case you are not updated in your Roman historical past, Augustus isn’t the worst of the Caesars — that will be his nice uncle and adopted father, Julius. Whereas Augustus had room to be worse, that did not make him the perfect. He did lots of conquering: Egypt, northern Spain, and quite a lot of central Europe. He killed individuals. He banished his allegedly promiscuous daughter. His heirs saved mysteriously dying.

“What are the trade-offs in that?” Zuckerberg advised the journal. “On the one hand, world peace is a long-term purpose that individuals speak about at present. 2 hundred years feels unattainable.” However, he stated, “That didn’t come without spending a dime, and he needed to do sure issues.”

He advised the journal that he favored the Latin language as a result of it reminded him of coding or math. He named his second daughter August. He took his honeymoon in Rome the place his spouse, Priscilla Chan, advised him that there have been three individuals current: him, her, and Augustus. “All of the photographs had been totally different sculptures of Augustus,” he advised the journal.

Clearly, Zuckerberg is emulating the notorious ruler. However how shut are they? Let’s rating it, primarily based on 5 classes I’ve fully made up: the celebrities, their youth, their rise to energy, their common vibe and recognition, and their lasting impact on the world. Every class is price one level.

The celebrities

Caesar was born on September 23, 63 BC making him a Libra. Mark, a Taurus (and Scorpio moon), was born on Might 14, 1984. Their indicators should not significantly appropriate. The one factor they’ve in frequent is their shared ruler, Venus, making them lovers of artwork, luxurious, and romance, based on InStyle. Caesar was famously born in Rome, whereas Zuckerberg was born within the far much less glamorous White Plains, New York, making them worlds aside each astrologically and geographically.

The pair isn’t a match for the celebrities. No factors.

Rating: 0

Subtotal: 0/5

Their youth

Each Caesar and Zuckerberg realized their trades at an early age. Zuckerberg’s father employed a personal tutor to show him the way to code and, in highschool, he constructed “ZuckNet,” a software program program that related all of the computer systems between his household’s home and his father’s dental workplace. He additionally created a music participant known as Synapse Media Participant, sort of like an earlier model of Spotify. 

When Caesar was 15, he had a ceremony that made him a person within the eyes of the regulation and was elected to the School of Pontiffs, a physique of the state liable for private and non-private sacrifices, amongst different duties. The next yr he took cost of the Greek video games.

I am giving the duo a full level for this part.

Rating: 1

Subtotal: 1/5

Rise to energy

Timing-wise, that is fairly spot-on. Each Zuckerberg and Caesar discovered their energy whereas they had been finding out, the previous launching Fb, then known as TheFacebook, whereas at Harvard and the latter taking his spot as inheritor to the throne whereas finding out and present process army coaching in Illyria. They each confronted some preliminary pushback — Zuckerberg by his co-founders and Caesar by Mark Antony. The massive distinction right here is that all of us knew Caesar was going to change into the large boy in cost — however we thought Zuckerberg was just a few nerd who wished to remake MySpace. Our unlucky preconceptions apart, they aligned on this one.

You get some extent.

Rating: 1

Subtotal: 2/5

Basic vibe and recognition

Individuals revered Augustus. When he died, he was declared a god. He did not have the identical swagger and charisma as his nice uncle Julius, however the reform he carried out made him fairly beloved by the Roman individuals. He reworked Rome from a republic to an empire, introduced peace to the Roman world, and made constitutional and monetary reforms that gained him some fairly important recognition.

Individuals don’t like Mark Zuckerberg. Solely 23 % of Gen Z respondents in a single research discovered Zuckerberg reliable and, based on a research from Pew Analysis Middle, 77 % of all Individuals have “little or no belief in leaders of social media firms.” Individuals do not belief him, do not suppose he is charismatic, his hobbies give us the ick, and his creation makes us surprise if it is destroying every part good we have come to like.

No factors.

Rating: 0

Subtotal: 2/5

Impact on the world as we all know it at present

Each Augustus and Zuckerberg have had lasting results on the world as we all know it. After all, that is simpler to say about Augustus than it’s of Zuckerberg. Caesar dominated for over half a century, arrange establishments and a template that lasted 200 years after that, and fairly actually reworked Rome from a republic into an empire, restoring peace and prosperity to the Roman state and altering almost each side of Roman life.

Zuckerberg has additionally modified almost each side of contemporary life. Whereas it’s debatable whether or not it has been a change for the higher, we will’t ignore that we talk, work, vote, take part in society, love, and reside in a distinct world due to the social media ecosystem Zuckerberg made.

Factors throughout.

Rating: 1

Complete: 3/5

Ultimately, the 2 are considerably related. They’re each leaders who acquired early begins and who wield terrifying energy. And each of them appear to be or have been, at peace with the trade-offs of these selections. In accordance with my math, Mark Zuckerberg is 60 % Augustus Caesar. However there’s nonetheless room for enchancment.