These are the 10 oldest jokes in human history — and they prove that people have been laughing about their animals and sex lives for 4,000 years

Bill Bostock,Mia JankowiczJul 6, 2023, 20:54 IST

Helmeted head of Athena, 5th-century BC terracotta sculpture from the Temple of Zeus in Agrigento, Sicily, Italy.DeAgostini/Getty Images

In 2008, British historians tracked down the world's oldest known joke — a fart joke from 1900 BC.
Here are the world's 10 oldest known jokes. Some still work well, while others have aged badly.

In 2008 a group of historians from the UK were commissioned to unearth the oldest joke ever written down.

The study was led by humor expert Dr Paul McDonald from the University of Wolverhampton.

The list reveals that humor has changed a lot in some respects, McDonald said in a statement released when the study was first published.

"Jokes have varied over the years, with some taking the question and answer format while others are witty proverbs or riddles," he said. "What they all share, however, is a willingness to deal with taboos and a degree of rebellion."

And as the world's oldest joke shows, toilet humor is here to stay.

10. A joke about a haircut, Ancient Greece, 300-400 AD.

The moon rises above the statue of the ancient Greek god Poseidon in Ancient Corinth near Athens on August 11, 2022.Valerie Gache/AFP via Getty Images

9. One about a donkey, Ancient Greece, 300-400 AD.

A donkey stands on the roadside on the island of Rhodes, Greece on June 27, 2021.Emmanuele Contini/NurPhoto via Getty Images

8. An ancient "your mom" joke, Ancient Rome, between 63 BC to 14 AD.

A sculpture of the head of Emperor Augustus on displayed in Rome, June 14, 2016.Fabio Frustaci/AP Photo

7. A sex joke, Ancient Egypt, 30 BC.

The stepped pyramid at Sakkara, Giza, Egypt.Stefan Lippmann/Oneworld Picture/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

6. A joke that is also a riddle, Ancient Greece, 429 BC.

A statue of Sophocles in Hanover, northern Germany, October 20, 2009.Joerg Sarbach/AP Photo

5. A pun on a name, Ancient Greece, 800 BC.

Polyphemus the Cyclops having his eye put out by Odysseus and his companions, on a vase found in an Etruscan tomb.CM Dixon/Print Collector/Getty Images

4. A joke about an old married couple, Unknown, 1100 BC.

Stock imageGetty Images

3. A joke about livestock, Sumeria, 1200 BC.

Bas-relief depicting cows and oxen at the Necropolis of Saqqara, Egypt.DeAgostini/Getty Images

2. Another sex joke, Ancient Egypt, 1800-1600 BC.

A felucca on the Nile river, Aswan, Egypt.Reinhard Dirscherl/ullstein bild via Getty Images

1. A fart joke, Sumeria, 1900 BC.

An ancient Sumerian tablet with cuneiform writing, recording barley distribution, from Mesopotamia, modern-day Iraq, dating to around 3100–2900 BC.Sepia Times/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

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These are the 10 oldest jokes in human history &mdash; and they prove that people have been laughing about their animals and sex lives for 4,000 years