"SATOR SQUARE" (79 AD)
The Sator Square is most likely the first meme on Earth, originating from around 70 AD in Pompeii. It's made from letters in a 5 x 5 grid. Every formation of words in this square has its own meaning in the Latin language.
Wikipedia article:
"THE FIRST MEME" (1921)
This is popularly considered as the first meme as it strongly resembles the meme formats found today. It originates from the magazine called
"The Judge" published by the University of Iowa in 1921.
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BBC article:
https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-43783521
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"KILROY WAS HERE" (1941-1945)
This meme most likely originates from America. Wherever American soldiers went, someone probably scribbled this character onto a wall. The name "Kilroy" belongs to the shipyard inspector James J. Kilroy, who wrote "Kilroy was here" on all of his inspected work. It is found even at the World War II memorial.
"RAGE COMICS" (2008)
Rage comics originate from 2008, when they first appeared on 4chan. They are a series of comics featuring the faces seen on the left. Many people later took these faces and used them in memes of their own to show exaggerated emotions.
"MINION MEMES" (2010)
Minions originate from the movie "Despicable Me", where they usually do nothing useful, but something funny. This easily translates into a meme. In minion memes, a picture of a minion was accompanied by a relatable line or sentence, This is the type of meme you look back on and think to yourself: "Why did I find this funny?"
"WOMAN YELLING AT CAT" (2019)
After Minion memes had died out, other meme formats started developing with each passing year. Skipping time to today, one of the most memorable of these is the "Woman yelling at cat" meme. It took us 2000 years to get here, but we did. Thus concludes the history of memes. We hope you learned something.