Did You Hear the One About...Ancient Sumerian Text Full of Crude Jokes

"Nibiru is returning, so we might as well laugh..."

A recently translated ancient text written in cuneiform is full of naughty humor, brain-teasing riddles and political parody!


The tablet, written approximately 3,500 years ago in the Akkadian language from Sumeria in ancient Mesopotamia, was discovered in present-day Iraq and is believed to have been written near the Persian Gulf close to the time of the biblical Exodus. The text includes a riddle about beer as well as political humor mocking governing officials. One riddle refers to the "deflowering" of an innocent maiden, with another joke hinting at an Oedipus Rex style mother/son relationship. (Ew!) Large parts of the text have remained undecipherable. The current location of the ancient clay tablet is not known, after it was pillaged from the museum where it had been housed during the initial stages of the Iraq War in 2003.

The Akkadian language and cuneiform texts were commonly used by the ancient Babylonians and other civilizations around the area of present-day Iraq and Iran. For a full translation of the "humorous" text, you may visit The Daily Mail.