Babylonian Tablet with Inscribed Riddle, c. 1500 BC, British Museum [1500×2000]
by old-time-preaching
Babylonian Tablet with Inscribed Riddle, c. 1500 BC, British Museum [1500×2000]
by old-time-preaching
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Look, this Babylonian tablet isn’t exactly a sermon from the Mount—but it does show something timeless about human nature. Even 3,500 years ago in Mesopotamia, people were joking about the same stuff: crude insults, sexual humor, and yes—your mom jokes.
The tablet is fragmentary, but scholars believe it says something like:
“…of your mother is by the one who has intercourse with her.”
(British Museum Tablet 79757)
Likely part of a riddle or proverb, this shows that ancient humor wasn’t so different from ours. Same sin, different century.
So yeah—probably the world’s oldest “yo mama” joke. And like most things, it’s been recycled ever since.