The pool where Narcissus died is still a crime scene. Was Nemesis, the goddess of revenge, an accessory to the crime because she lured the beautiful youth to the pool? Are there clues leading to hallucination and delusion? Or was it just an accident, with Narcissus’s head being so literally and metaphorically big that it acted as a deadly counterweight?

Whatever conclusion an amateur sleuth may arrive at, there is just one strong fact – that Narcissus may have shot the first selfie in history.

The Oxford English Dictionary has officially declared ‘selfie’ as the term of 2013. And it certainly was, with everyone and their brother going all snap-happy everywhere and anywhere. This led to some dubious variations, like the Selfies at Funerals page on Tumblr, which caused an online uproar. But then, even US President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron took selfies with Denmark’s Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt at Nelson Mandela’s memorial.

In 2013 we also had the first papal selfie, with Pope Francis posing for a selfie with a group of teenagers at the Vatican.

Whoever thought that selfies were just a fad for teenagers to hold a camera at an unnatural angle and enjoy their 15 minutes of fame was certainly proven wrong, because even the influential Time magazine turned its attention to the 11 most memorable selfies of 2013, saying that celebrities such as Miley Cyrus have elevated selfies into an art form.

But what has fuelled the rise of the selfie? Is it a hollow sense of self-importance, a vain yearning to be the man or woman in the mirror, or a harmless form of instant carpe diem?

The American actor, director and screenwriter James Franco, who is himself quite fond of taking photos of himself, recently wrote an article for The New York Times to explain the art of the selfie. In the article he wrote that “The selfie is the new way to look someone right in the eye and say, ‘Hello, this is me’.”

Which, in a way, is true. Yesterday’s poke is today’s selfie – in an age when most introductions are made online, the selfie is pretty effective. But then, endlessly repeating “Hello, this is me” puts that other important question, “Who are you?” out of focus.