What attracts Mark Zuckerberg to the Roman hardman Augustus? | Charlotte Higgins

The Facebook founder’s bromantic hero was a canny operator who was obsessed with power and overrode democracy

Powerful men do love a transhistorical man-crush – fixating on an ancestor-figure, who can be venerated, perhaps surpassed. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg has told the New Yorker about his particular fascination with the Roman emperor, Augustus – he and his wife Patricia Chan have even called one of their children August.

“Basically, through a really harsh approach, he established 200 years of world peace,” Zuckerberg explained. He pondered, “What are the trade-offs in that? On the one hand, world peace is a long-term goal that people talk about today...” On the other hand, he said, “that didn’t come for free, and he had to do certain things”.

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