When did the first meme appear?

It depends on how you define “first meme.” If we’re talking about internet memes, most people point to the 1990s with Dancing Baby or even the 1921 “Expectation vs. Reality” comic. But if we go back further, we find meme-like jokes in ancient Roman graffiti.

Before TikTok, before Vine, before even “Charlie bit my finger” – memes were already lurking in the shadows. Yep, turns out our ancestors were memeing before it was even called that. Welcome to Meme History: the archaeology of internet stupidity.

1921 – The OG “Expectation vs. Reality”
Picture this: it’s the roaring twenties, and someone drops a comic strip that says “How you think you look when a flashlight is taken” vs. “How you really look.” Boom. The very first meme format was born – and it still hits hard today. Proof that humans have always been clowns.

1940s – Kilroy Was Here
This bald dude with a nose peeking over a wall showed up everywhere. No one knew who he was, but everyone knew “Kilroy was here.” Basically the original tagging. The first viral graffiti. If Kilroy had Instagram, he’d have a million followers easy.

1990 – Godwin’s Law
Some guy named Mike Godwin said: “The longer an online convo goes, the more likely someone brings up Hitler.” And he was right. This became a meme before memes were cool – a prophecy for internet debates to come.

1996 – Dancing Baby
Cursed 3D baby. Wiggles weirdly. Sent through email chains. Scared children. Inspired a generation. Peak 90s internet. If you know, you know.

1997 – Hampster Dance
Take a weird song, speed it up, add dancing hamsters and a website that looks like it was made in MS Paint. That’s it. That’s the meme. Somehow, the internet said: yes, this is the future.

1998 – All Your Base Are Belong to Us
A legendary mistranslation from a Japanese game. It made no sense and made perfect sense at the same time. Gamers everywhere ran with it – printing it on shirts, spamming it on forums, and yelling it in chat rooms.

Ancient Memes

The first meme ever didn’t come from the internet – it just needed people with weird ideas. From newspapers to forums to your FYP, memes have always been humanity’s favorite way to cope with… everything.

But wait – turns out memes didn’t even start in the 1920s. Let’s roll the tape back a few more centuries.

Enter: the Middle Ages. 
Monks in dusty scriptoria, copying sacred texts… and doodling knights fighting giant snails in the margins. Yep. Snail battles. Repeated across multiple manuscripts for no clear reason – just pure, chaotic energy. 
Also spotted: sword-wielding rabbits, trumpet-playing butts, and what can only be described as medieval sh*tposting.

These weird little drawings – called “marginalia” – were basically the monk version of memes. 
No captions, no context, just vibes. And that’s the beauty of it.

Turns out, even in the 13th century, people were bored, goofy, and needed an outlet. 
So next time someone says memes are low culture, remind them: monks were drawing snail wars 800 years ago. Respect your ancestors.

And just when you thought memes started with baby GIFs and monks drawing killer rabbits – think again.

Turns out, the ancient Greeks and Romans were already deep in meme culture… they just didn’t have Wi-Fi.

In Pompeii, people scrawled jokes, insults, and weird flexes all over the city walls like ancient Twitter. Real graffiti found includes:

– “I baked bread on the 19th of April.” – Congrats, king. The first food blogger.
– “Love me or hate me, I’ve peed in every corner of this inn.” – Bro owned that place.
– “Theophilus, stop licking girls on the city wall like a dog.” – The OG public shaming.
– “Weep, you girls. My penis has given up on you. Now it penetrates men’s butts. Goodbye, wondrous femininity!” – Ancient coming out. Dramatic. Beautiful. Historic.

And then there’s the Alexamenos Graffito – a crude drawing mocking a Christian guy by showing him worshipping a crucified donkey. Literal first-century shitpost. Even back then, haters gonna hate.

Also, ancient streets were full of… well… stone-carved dicks. 
No joke. Pompeii used engraved phalluses to point the way to brothels. 
Imagine living in a city where your GPS is one big penis map.

And let’s not forget the Greeks. They had a whole joke book called Philogelos (“The Laughter-Lover”) – a 4th-century collection of dumb jokes, stereotypes, and setups like:
“A man goes to the doctor…” 
Basically the ancient Reddit /r/Jokes.

So yeah – long before memes went viral, they were carved in stone, scratched into walls, and shared among toga-wearing legends.

Moral of the story: 
Humans have always been unserious.
We just swapped walls for comment sections.

So… when exactly was the first meme ever created?
Truth is, we don’t really know.

What we do know is this: meme-like creations have existed for thousands of years.
From ancient graffiti to medieval doodles to dancing 3D babies — the human urge to joke, roast, and relate is timeless.

Memes aren’t just a product of the internet.
They’re part of what makes us human.

If you’re interested in a more detailed academic take on the origins of memes, this Wikipedia article on Internet memes is a great place to start.