‘Africa & Byzantium’ reconfigures ancient and modern worlds at the Met

NEW YORK — A curious trend flourished on social media this past fall: women asking men how often they think about the Roman Empire. The answers, recorded in TikTok videos and on other platforms, were amusing and for some women, perhaps, alarming. Men think about the Roman Empire — its scope and power, infrastructure, authoritarian rigors and “Game of Thrones”-like political blood sport — a lot.