Rome took about a thousand years to "fall" so it might be tricky to attribute any particular "feeling". In some ways, perhaps it still exists, just in a different form (not unlike how the current People's Republic of China might be considered a more contemporary manifestation of the Shang Dynasty)
This is what ChatGPT "thought" about your comment:
```
- Misses the point of the original comment.
- Overly pedantic instead of engaging with the sentiment.
- Unclear analogy (PRC as a continuation of the Shang Dynasty).
- Appears detached from social norms—not recognizing the rhetorical nature of the discussion.
- Ultimately, basementcat's response likely seemed out of place and frustratingly abstract, making it easy to dismiss as nonsensical.
```
But like, for real, thinking that "ROME" still exists now makes zero sense.
Rome (the city) does still exist, as do the Roman Catholic church and Eastern Orthodox church which were integral institutions of the late Roman empire. Rome, the original capital, passed in to possession by the modern Italian state, which declared itself a "new Roman Empire" under Mussolini less than 100 years ago. The new Roman capital at Constantinople passed into the hands of the Ottoman Empire in the 1500s, whose leader took the moniker "Caesar of Rome". Other states like the Germanic "Holy Roman Empire" and even the Russian Empire with its "Tsars" (Caesars) have claimed to be successors to the Roman Empire.
