A humorous TikTok trend last year revealed that average American guys think about the Roman Empire anywhere from once a month to several times a day. If you’re a guy, what will surprise you about that is that women don’t think about it that often! At its height, the Roman Empire ruled all the countries around the Mediterranean Sea and most of Western Europe for hundreds of years.

It had a profound cultural impact on the development of the region in architecture, engineering, military strategy, governance, language, and virtually every other aspect of social life. And through those countries, Roman influence has extended to the entire world. Many of these are places you might choose to vacation, riding on Roman-built roads and touring buildings that have stood for over 2,000 years.