3 July 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

World’s Oldest Customer Complaint “at 3800 Years Old”

When we are not satisfied with the product we receive, what almost all of us do is complain about the product. We do this sometimes by calling customer service and sometimes by applying to consumer complaint lines. We even announce it to everyone on social media.

It seems that although centuries have passed, people have not changed much. It is clear that our job is easier now, but there were determined people in the past. He carved his complaints on both sides of the clay tablet without feeling cold.

The world’s first known customer complaint was sent from Ur city, southern Mesopotamia about 3,800 years ago. (Tell al-Mukayyar in Iraq today)

The Old Babylonian tablet with inventory number 131236, found in the British museum in London, is a clay tablet from a man named Nanni telling ea-nasir that he complained that copper ore of the wrong quality was delivered and another shipment was misdirected and delayed.

Ea-nasir was a member of Alik Tilmun, a trade guild based in Dilmun. Archaeologists have discovered that he was a prominent copper merchant. Apparently, Ea-nasir was a pretty bad businessman and received lots of complaints from angry customers.

Letter from Nanni to Ea-nasir complaining after a gulf cruise that the wrong grade copper ore was delivered, misdirected, and another delivery delay. Source: British Museum.

The tablet was translated by the Asurologist A. Leo Oppenheim in Letters from Mesopotamia, which was out of print in 1967: The official, Business and Special Letters on Clay Tablates from Two Thousand Years and it was read as follows:

Addressing Ea-nasir, Nanni sends the following message:

When you arrived you said to me: “I will give Gimil-Sin (when it comes) good quality copper ingots.” Then you went but did not do what you promised me. You put in bad ingots before my envoy (Sit-Sin) and said, “If you want to get them, take them; if you don’t want to buy it, go! ” You said.

What are you taking for such a contempt for someone like me? I sent as messengers like ourselves to collect my purse with money (he was deposited with you), but by sending me your empty hand back to me several times and you despise me in enemy territory. Is there anyone among the traders who trade with Telmun who treated me this way? Just be disrespectful to my envoy! Because of a silver mina that I owe you (muttering), you are free to speak like this, I gave 1,080 pounds of copper to the palace in your name and Šumi-abum likewise, except for what we wrote on a sealed tablet to hide in Damascus’s temple, we was give 1,080 kilograms of copper.

How did you treat me for this copper? You hid my money bag from me in enemy territory; It is now up to you to fully restore (my money) to me.

Note that (from now on) I will not accept any non-good quality copper from you. I will select and take the ingots individually in my own garden and exercise my right to be rejected against you because you have insulted me.

– Leo Oppenheim, Letters From Mesopotamia.

This tablet found among the ruins of Ur was bought by the British Museum in 1953.

The tablet is 11.6 centimeters (4.6 inches) high, 5 centimeters (2.0 inches) wide, 2.6 centimeters (1.0 inches) thick, and slightly damaged. Translated from Akkadian.

Related Articles

Ancient ‘Cancer-Treating’ Magical Amulet Discovered in Türkiye’s Antioch of Pisidia

30 December 2024

30 December 2024

An intriguing artifact was discovered during excavations in the ancient city of Pisidia Antioch in Isparta province in western Türkiye:...

The Ancient City of Miletos’s “Sacred Cave” Opened to Visitors

2 October 2021

2 October 2021

In the ancient city of Miletos, which had an important place in the advancement of philosophy, art, and science in...

Oldest Known Human Viruses Discovered In 50,000-Year-Old Neanderthal Remains

15 May 2024

15 May 2024

Researchers from the Federal University of São Paulo have managed to uncover the oldest known human viruses in a set...

Ancient Egyptian Kohl recipes more diversified than previously thought

28 April 2022

28 April 2022

Researchers analyzed the contents of 11 kohl containers from the Petrie Museum collection in London and have revealed that the...

Archaeologists Discover Assyrian-Style Leather Armor 2,700 Years Old in China

11 December 2021

11 December 2021

The new research shows that the unique leather armor found in a horse rider’s tomb in Northwest China was made...

4,000-Year-Old Lion Jaw Bone Unearthed in Kültepe

14 September 2021

14 September 2021

Excavations continue in Kültepe, the starting point of Anatolian written history. During the excavations, a 4,000-year-old lion jawbone was unearthed....

The rich-poor distinction draws attention in the nutrition of the inhabitants of the Ancient City of Pergamon

27 November 2021

27 November 2021

The hegemony of wealth to the poor, arising from the ruler, elite structure, property ownership, unjust acquisition, and distribution of...

Two Archaic Sculptures was Unearthed in Milas Euromos 2021 Excavations

2 July 2021

2 July 2021

Milas Euromos 2021 archaeological excavations continue. During the excavations of Milas Euromos 2021, archaeologists unearthed two archaic period statues (kuros)...

Archaeologists deciphered the Sabaean inscription on a clay jar finds link between King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba

3 April 2023

3 April 2023

Archaeologists deciphered a partially preserved inscription that was found on the neck of a large jar dated back to the...

New research determines portable toilets of the ancient Roman world

11 February 2022

11 February 2022

New research published today reveals how archeologists can determine when a pot was used by Romans as a portable toilet,...

Naked Venus statue discovered in a Roman garbage dump in France

29 March 2023

29 March 2023

Archaeologists from the French National Institute for Preventative Archaeological Research (Inrap) has been uncovered a trove of artifacts, including two...

Archaeologists discovered a mausoleum dating back to Golden Horde era in Kazakhstan

8 July 2023

8 July 2023

Remains of a mausoleum dating back to the Golden Horde in the 15th century were discovered on the territory of...

The Lion of Venice was Made in China: : Isotopic Analyses and Stylistic Comparisons Prove it

16 September 2024

16 September 2024

Recent scientific studies have revealed that the famous bronze-winged lion above one of the two columns in Piazzetta San Marco,...

Over 7,000-Year-Old Traces of Life Discovered in Ratina Cave on Šćedro Island, Croatia

28 February 2025

28 February 2025

Recent archaeological excavations on Šćedro Island, located south of Hvar, have unveiled significant findings that challenge previous understandings of the...

Archaeologists discovered the first evidence of early administrative management in eastern Iran

21 June 2022

21 June 2022

Iranian archaeologists believe they have discovered the first evidence of early administrative management in an eastern Iranian province, which they...