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That Babylonian Guy We Know By Name
So, I always love this story when it comes to my attention. There’s this guy in ancient Mesopotamia who’s name we know…and it’s not for good reasons, either.
The World’s Oldest…Complaint Letter
In the early 20th century, Sir Leonard Wooley was excavating in the city of Ur, which is in modern Iraq.
He found a merchants’ house that contained an office, and still in that office (for whatever reason) were a bunch of letters.
The letters dated from the 18th century BC, and were chiseled in cuneiform on small clay tablets, making them a lot more permanent than your Tweet whining about company X.
The letters were all addressed to one Ea-Nasir, presumably the merchant who owned the house. He was a copper merchant.
And apparently at some point in his life he stopped being a good copper merchant.
The “best” of these tablets was sent by a man named Nanni, and he was so angry he covered both sides of the tablet.
This link includes the full translation. Gems include “You put ingots which were not good before my messenger.” and “I shall exercise against you my right of rejection.”
I’m guessing that second line refers to what we would now call breach of contract.