Mark Zuckerberg’s Love of Star Wars Is Deeper Than You Think

The first Star Wars film hit earth with a bang on May 25, 1977. It would be another seven years (almost to the day) before Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg arrived on earth in 1984, presumably with a whimper. But Zuckerberg more than made up for lost time, becoming a Star Wars geek of the first order. So much so that he recently joined the the fresh Star Wars mania, posting pictures of his baby daughter (and his dog) decked out in Star Wars regalia.

Knowing Zuckerberg’s background it’s easy to see why he and Star Wars are such a natural fit. And it’s not just because of all the space age technology that the Silicon Valley titan should be expected to love. It’s deeper: Zuckerberg has been a student of the Greek Classics since his early youth, excelling in classical studies in school even while crushing science, math and programming. Reportedly Zuckerberg’s great obsession outside of code was for epic poetry, including Virgil’s The Aeneid, and The Odyssey and The Iliad by Homer. These are the foundational texts — the great epics — that served as the building blocks for Star Wars. In fact you can take a course on just that — The Epic from Homer to Star Wars — at a place called Harvard, where Zuckerberg spent some profitable time.