this post was submitted on 13 Jul 2023
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The original.
That we know of, anyway. Do you think literacy is required to spread a meme? If not, who knows what the legionaries had going.
There is graffiti in Pompeii that definitely suggests a memetic type of replication. Hell, one could argue that putting your handprint on a stone wall is a meme.
Which graffiti is that? Did they find more bread making references?
Most of it was people's names and crude comments IIRC. The more things change the more they stay the same
Quite a few of these seem like the sort of things people have been writing on walls throughout history.
IMO to be a meme it has to have learned symbolism. Kilroy was the guy always in front of you in the strange new lands you visited, Drake indicates which thing is preferable to the other. Neither are intrinsic. Maybe it has to be somewhat humorous or ironic too, because I don't think a crucifix or the Latin letter "A" qualifies.
The hand print example could work if it was actually a rude gesture in the original culture, the intent was to troll all future generations and they were added to gradually over time.