Snappy newsletters. Simple Facebook sharing. Spirited comments. Sweet features are waiting… GET THEM NOW!

Dirty Jokes of the Ancients Unearthed

Academics discover 3,000-year-old Sumerian fart joke

By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff

Posted Aug 1, 2008 8:57 AM CDT

(Newser) – Academics studying ancient texts have discovered bawdy jokes that wouldn't be out of place in a Farrelly brothers movie, the Daily Telegraph reports. "What hangs at a man’s thigh and wants to poke the hole that it’s often poked before?" asks a thousand-year-old Anglo-Saxon manuscript.  "Answer: A key.”

Researchers combing the texts of lost civilizations for humor say that the ancients laughed at much the same things people do to day. The oldest surviving joke is a fart gag found on 3,000-year-old stone tablets from Babylonia: "Something which has never occurred since time immemorial: a young woman did not fart in her husband's lap."

Man is even more eager to copulate than a donkey, reads an Egyptian hieroglyphic from thousands of years ago.His purse is what restrains him.
"Man is even more eager to copulate than a donkey," reads an Egyptian hieroglyphic from thousands of years ago."His purse is what restrains him."   ((c) Orin Optiglot)
Researchers have found bawdy jokes written in heiroglyphics and inscribed on delicate thousand-year-old manuscripts.
Researchers have found bawdy jokes written in heiroglyphics and inscribed on delicate thousand-year-old manuscripts.   (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)
Academics studying ancient manuscripts and stone tablets have discovered people laughed at much the same things thousands of years ago as they do today.
Academics studying ancient manuscripts and stone tablets have discovered people laughed at much the same things thousands of years ago as they do today.   ((c) jfeuchter)
« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow
To report an error on this story, notify our editors.
A snapshot of the day's best news stories.
 
COMMENTS
Be the first to comment on this story.

More Newser Stories

Jones Puts Foot in Mouth With Jewish Joke

McCain: Skip the Bombs, Send Smokes to Iran

Letterman, McCain Trade Comic Riffs

No Last Laugh for Killer


NEWS FROM OUR PARTNERS
Other Sites We Like:   24/7 Wall St.   |   Betty Confidential   |   BuzzFeed   |   Cracked   |   Fark   |   Timelines   |   The Frisky   |   Geek Sugar   |   NewsOne