If America is truly headed for civilizational collapse, Elon Musk surely sees his role as the ‘deus ex machina.’
Musk has shown a strong interest in the Roman Empire for many years. This fascination is evident in his love for gladiator attire, his significant financial support for the research of ancient civilizations, and his desire to have numerous children akin to the ‘legions’ of Augustus with a modern group of partners.
In a message to Ashley St Clair, a self-proclaimed MAGA influencer who is rumored to be the mother of Musk’s 7-month-old child named Romulus, after Rome’s legendary founding brothers Romulus and Remus, Musk discussed the need to use surrogates to increase their numbers to a legion before an impending apocalypse.
Indeed, Musk’s apparent fixation on Rome (and procreation) seems to be intertwined with his personal crusade to save humanity from extinction.
At 53 years old, Musk controversially claims that the decline of the Roman Empire was due to their declining birth rates, stating, ‘Rome fell because the Romans stopped making Romans.’ This belief drives his ambition to have a vast number of offspring, aiming to prevent a similar downfall.
Et tu, America?
On X last month, Musk warned the falling fertility rate in the US ‘will end civilization.’ No wonder he calls the United States a ‘late-stage empire,’ or the ‘New Rome.’
‘Low birthrate is under-appreciated as causal in the fall of civilizations,’ Musk said on X in 2023, adding: ‘Rome was having birth rate issues even during the reign of Caesar.’
In 2022, Musk dressed in ancient armor for Heidi Klum’s annual Halloween bash, hitting the carpet in the red leather breast plate as he roared to the flashing cameras.
Musk’s striking ‘savior complex’ has also, it seems, driven the once-in-a-generation innovator and entrepreneur to found the space technology company SpaceX which is dedicated to establishing the first self-sustaining human colony on Mars, which he plans to call ‘New World.’
‘There’s high urgency to making life multi-planetary,’ Musk said last year. ‘We’ve got to do it while civilization is so strong.’
And back on Earth, Musk is certainly doing his part.
His so-called ‘legion’ (a reference to a Roman military unit of as many as 6,000 soldiers) of 14 children and counting (an Atlantic writer claimed recently that the actual number of Musk children may be higher than publicly known) has attracted significant controversy and fascination, as has his bizarre behavior.
Notably, Musk’s ‘Roman salute’ delivered on stage at President Donald Trump’s inauguration rally in Washington, DC, in January sparked intense debate, as critics drew comparisons between his stiff, one-armed motion and the Nazi salute.
Contrary to the name, there is little proof that the ‘Roman salute’ was ever used in antiquity – but it has not stopped Musk’s supporters from using it as justification for the gesture.
‘The Roman Empire is back, starting from the Roman salute,’ Andrea Stroppa, an Italian cybersecurity researcher referred to as a Musk lobbyist, wrote in a since-deleted X post at the time, per the New York Times.
On X, Musk once referred to himself as ‘Kekius Maximus.’ The word ‘kek’ – used by gamers to mean ‘laugh out loud’ – has also come to be associated with alt-right groups.
But the word is also the name of the Egyptian deity of darkness, while ‘Maximus’ could be an homage to a Roman general of the same name, or the fictional ‘Gladiator’ character.
It’s a moniker perfect for a man who once propositioned Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg – who has himself expressed his admiration for Ancient Rome and Emperor Augustus (62 DC – 14 AD) – to a duel in the Coliseum.
Musk has made multiple mentions of low birth rates on X, and often attempts to draw comparisons to the fertility rates of the Roman Empire.
Musk has 14 known children with four different women, such as Neuralink exec Shivon Zilis (center) with whom he shares four kids, including sons Strider and Azure (pictured).
Musk also has three children with singer Grimes (left), including son X Æ A-Xii (pictured right in 2021).
Recently, MAGA influencer Ashley St Clair (pictured) claimed Musk is the father of her newborn.
Musk calls his children as a ‘legion,’ a term that refers to a Roman army of 6,000 men.
On numerous occasions, Musk has shared AI-generated images of himself as a gladiator.
For Halloween 2022, he walked the red carpet at supermodel Heidi Klum’s annual costume bash dressed in a $10,000 warrior ensemble, complete with red leather breastplate with a demon head emblazoned in the center of his chest.
The Tesla titan posed, flexing his biceps and roaring for the frenzy of flashing cameras in his armor, a riff on lorica segmentata worn in the Roman Empire.
But it’s not all fun and games for Musk.
He has recommended serious literary works like Julius Caesar’s ‘The Gallic Wars’ and the William Bolitho book ‘Twelve Against the Gods’ as must-reads to his fans.
And he has donated $3 million to the study of Ancient Rome, in addition to launching the ‘Vesuvius Challenge,’ a ‘machine learning, computer vision, and geometry competition’ in which the challengers decipher scrolls recovered from the Roman city of Herculaneum which was destroyed by volcanic eruption and buried under ash in 79 AD.
One winner was even hired to Musk’s team at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Though there are disturbing turns as well.
The billionaire has suggested online that America is in need of a ‘modern day Sulla’ – Sulla was a Roman general who led a violent coup in the year 88 BCE.
After installing himself as the head of a short-lived dictatorship, Sulla wiped out political rivals in bloody purges.
Mike Duncan, a history podcaster and author, told the Daily Mail that antiquity aficionados, like Musk, seem to admire the military autocracy of the Roman Empire and the prospect of wielding such power.
The symbols of overt masculinity, he added, ‘excite the imagination of a certain kind of man.’ And Musk’s fascination isn’t fringe – in fact, it’s fitting for a mogul so enmeshed in the growing ‘manosphere.’
‘In some ways, ancient Rome is a kind of safe place for macho fantasies. It’s where men can pretend to be macho men,’ Mary Beard, a classicist who specializes in Ancient Rome, previously told Time magazine.
In January 2025 at President Donald Trump’s inauguration parade in Washington, DC, Musk’s celebratory gesture, the so-called ‘Roman salute,’ sparked controversy.
Musk has called America the ‘New Rome’ on X.
He has mentioned previously that the US has felt like a ‘late stage empire.’
According to Duncan, people – such as Musk – will often project their modern-day political views and backfill the story of Ancient Rome, using their ideology to explain why such a great empire fell.
Ex-Trump strategist and MAGA grandee Steve Bannon has a bust of Julius Caesar in the man cave where he records his show ‘War Room.’
A controversial media personality known for his openly misogynistic views, Andrew Tate called the empire ‘brutally effective,’ ‘aesthetically beautiful,’ ‘militarily successful’ and ‘economically brilliant.’
‘The Romans were an intensely patriarchal society,’ Duncan told the Daily Mail. ‘The men were in charge and the women were not, and that was true in government, and it was true inside the family.’
Even in Roman society, failed emperors were blamed for being ‘too effeminate’ – or too concerned with luxuries like silk and finery that were ‘coded as female,’ which were seen as ‘sapping the vitality of the empire,’ said Duncan.
Finally, Musk has also argued that non-citizens will contribute to the collapse of society, writing last year on X: ‘Near the fall of the Roman Empire, the Roman Army… increasingly relied on non-citizens.’
This idea, Duncan said, seems to be based on a period when the Roman Empire was run by Italians, or the ‘true Romans.’ But, he added, there’s a problem with Musk’s take on history because the Romans were actually ‘very good at incorporating new people into their system’ – in fact, they welcomed them.
The question of the Roman Empire’s collapse is, Duncan stated, ‘one of the most continuously debated questions in all of history.’
According to Duncan, people – such as Musk – will often project their modern-day political views and backfill the story of Ancient Rome, using their ideology to explain why such a great empire fell, whether it’s believing that ‘men are under assault’ or that ‘we’ve become too feminine as a society.’
‘Above all, Rome represents a kind of power that is alluring,’ Duncan concluded, ‘that is something that will excite people like Zuckerberg or Bannon as they look to what they would like to achieve for themselves.’
But are you not entertained?
