Report: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg Is ‘Obsessed’ with Roman Emperor Augustus Caesar

According to a recent report, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has an affinity for Roman emperors — in particular, Augustus Caesar — which gives an insight into how he runs his social media firm.

According to a recent profile in the New Yorker, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is obsessed with the stories of Roman emperors, particularly Augustus Caesar. During the interview, Zuckerberg stated: “You have all these good and bad and complex figures. I think Augustus is one of the most fascinating. Basically, through a really harsh approach, he established two hundred years of world peace.”

Zuckerberg seems to identify with Caesar who assumed his role as emperor at a young age, the Facebook CEO notes that Augustus Caesar had to make choices that “didn’t come for free, and he had to do certain things.” But Zuckerberg believes that in the end, Caesar achieved a period of peace that Zuckerberg says often “feels unattainable.” It should be noted that Caesar regularly had political opponents killed and may have ordered the execution of his own grandson, these would be the “certain things” that Zuckerberg alludes to Augustus having to do.

Zuckerberg’s interest in ancient Rome reportedly began in high school and has been a common theme throughout the tech billionaires life, he has even gone so far as to name his second daughter August and spent his honeymoon in Rome in 2012. “My wife was making fun of me, saying she thought there were three people on the honeymoon: me, her, and Augustus,” he said. “All the photos were different sculptures of Augustus.”

Zuckerberg’s obsession with Roman emperors gives some insight into his work at Facebook, where the company’s motto used to be “move fast and break things.” Facebook has focused on rapid growth at all costs, something which has become an issue for the company as they face possible government regulation if they don’t fix some of the issues widespread across their various platforms.

The full profile of Zuckerberg can be read in the New Yorker here.