Ever since I've heard of the meme that "modern men can't spend 24 hours without thinking of the Roman Empire", I haven't been able to escape it, even on days where my only contact with the outside world is HN.
I guess it's like a curse, once you've heard about it you're doomed.
And for anyone finding out about it just now, alea jacta est
It's only a certain type of man that they are talking about. We are not that type of men I guess. Can't say I know anyone what that problem to be honest. And yes, I have heard that saying before. Didn't work then and doesn't work now.
It's extremely easy if you're immersed in Southern European culture.
Moru -> Flag of Sardinia, whose Wikipedia page incidentally I was reading yesterday (the Four Moors, "is cuatru morus") -> Sardinian language -> grammatically still the closest language to Latin -> the everlasting glory of the Roman Empire
For me it's not so much what's interesting as what affects my day to day. I love Chinese history but I'm unlikely to come across anything today with origins in Chinese law, or traverse the path of a Chinese road, or use an interesting word with a Chinese etymology and an associated story from old China.
For national history, Chinese is probably my favorite by far.
May I suggest you do a domain-specific history dive, such as the history of computing, the history of science or some other subject you may enjoy more. That's the real good stuff.
It's so funny to see this be a worldwide phenomenon. As someone who grew up playing in the ruins of Roman temples & villas and was obsessed with it as a child, it almost feels like people are talking about "some other Rome".
I grew up in a school system which taught us about "our ancestors, the Gauls"...
Which is fun if you're an Asterix fan, but one day you end up asking yourself - wait, we're in an ex-French colony here, but how much Gaul blood does anyone have in this place really?
I guess it's like a curse, once you've heard about it you're doomed.
And for anyone finding out about it just now, alea jacta est