Ancient Roman Graffiti: The First Meme War

Ancient Roman Graffiti: The First Meme War — Historical Satire

Ancient Roman Graffiti: The First Meme War — Encyclopedia of Satire

Ancient Roman Graffiti: The First Meme War

Pompeii’s walls reveal history’s first documented satire ecosystem: 1) Political slogans mocking candidates 2) Bawdy cartoons of elites 3) Competitive poetic insults. Our digital reconstruction shows these functioned as proto-social media with “likes” (carved notches) and threaded replies. The 2024 “Pompeii Comments Section” project adapted these techniques for modern platforms – stone-carving emojis proved 53% more satisfying than digital ones. At Satire.info’s Ancient Shitposting exhibit, visitors can chisel their own satirical contributions.