So something I've noticed a lot lately is there's a fair amount of online fan culture around the Roman Empire, and it most often takes the view that the "true" Roman Empire is the pre-Christian version, and that the Christian period of Roman history, or Late Antiquity in general, is somehow not the "real" Roman Empire. I don't think this is a view that is attested in contemporary sources, of course, and I think it would also be foreign to most post-Roman cultures, especially in Catholic countries, where the (Christian) Roman Empire was historically seen as the model and basis for law and government. What is the origin of this? Is it Gibbon? Is it an Anglosphere/Protestant thing?