Let them talk; I do not care — Greek gemstone poem
About the work
Imported from the workbook's Full reassessment sheet, revised 7 October 2026 (record ID 35). The assessment below is the workbook's comparative judgment under its stated criteria; source links and limits are retained.
Workbook assessment: Plausible
Date or witness: Surviving inscribed versions: 2nd–3rd centuries CE; composition possibly 1st–2nd centuries
Region: Roman Empire, from Spain to Mesopotamia
Workbook date-sort bounds: 100 CE to 300 CE; these bounds are not automatically invention or disappearance dates.
Description
A defiant short poem rejects other people's opinions; longer versions add an appeal to a lover. Whitmarsh collates twenty recorded versions on gemstones and a wall.
Evidence of adoption or transmission
Twenty recorded versions, including different lengths, circulate on relatively modest gemstones and a graffito; Whitmarsh interprets the audience as middling consumers.
What remains uncertain
Wide replication and adaptation are direct; the social demographic is an inference from objects and language. Commercial workshop production does not reveal who originated the text or prove specifically working-class consumers.
Candidate-index family 15: Let them talk; I do not care — Greek gemstone poem
The workbook groups records 35 here and rates the family Plausible. This is a research shortlist, not proof of an independently established meme family.
Dated evidence: Surviving inscribed versions: 2nd–3rd centuries CE; composition possibly 1st–2nd centuries
Region: Roman Empire, from Spain to Mesopotamia
Shortlist uncertainty: Wide replication and adaptation are direct; the social demographic is an inference from objects and language. Commercial workshop production does not reveal who originated the text or prove specifically working-class consumers.
Workbook revision note: Strong transmission evidence; social-class criterion remains unproved