A transcription of the text on the obverse, reverse, and left edge of the tablet[6]
The tablet details that Ea-nāṣir travelled toDilmun to buycopper and returned to sell it inMesopotamia. On one particular occasion, he had agreed to sell copperingots to Nanni. Nanni sent his servant with the money to complete the transaction.[7] The copper was considered by Nanni to be sub-standard[8] and was not accepted.
In response, Nanni produced the cuneiform letter for delivery to Ea-nāṣir. Inscribed on it is a complaint to Ea-nāṣir about a copper delivery of the incorrect grade and issues with another delivery;[5] Nanni also complained that his servant (who handled the transaction) had been treated rudely. He stated that, at the time of writing, he had not accepted the copper, but had paid for it.
Ea-nāṣir was part of a group of traders calledalik Tilmun, or "Dilmun traders". He is known from other texts to have been active in the 11th and 19th regnal years of theLarsa rulerRim-Sîn I.[9]
Adolf Leo Oppenheim translated several of the tablet's lines in a 1954 article forJournal of the American Oriental Society.[11] An English language translation of the tablet was made byW. F. Leemans [nl] in 1960;[12] Leemans's translation incorporated these lines which Oppenheim had translated as well as some input fromFritz Rudolf Kraus [de] on the meaning of a few lines.[13] Oppenheim published a full translation of the tablet himself in 1967,[8] unaware of any other translations of this tablet.[14] A translation inspired by that ofMarc Van De Mieroop sent in a personal communication toSteven J. Garfinkle was published in 2010;[15] abook review byWalter Farber [de] noted that this translation "is not always true to details".[16] I. M. Diakonoff published a translation into Russian in 1990.[17]
Other tablets have been found in the ruins believed to be Ea-nāṣir's dwelling. These include a letter from a man named Arbituram who complained he had not received his copper yet, while another said he was tired of receiving bad copper.[18][19]
From February 2015 the complaint tablet has become anInternet meme due to its seeminglyanachronistic nature and relatable subject matter.[2][18][20][21] Its use as a meme probably started on Reddit then Tumblr before coming to wider attention.[21]
^Figulla, H. H.; Martin, W. J., eds. (1953).Letters and Business Documents of the Old Babylonian Period. Ur Excavations: Texts. Vol. V. London: British Museum Press. p. 5, Pl. XIV.
Diakonoff, I. M. (1990).Купец, мореплаватель, литейных дел мастер [A Merchant, Seafarer, and Copper Founder].Люди города Ура [People of the City of Ur] (in Russian). Moscow: Akademija Nauk. pp. 97–125.ISBN978-5-02-016568-7.
Leemans, W. F. (1960)."Ur: Time of Rim-Sin".Foreign Trade in the Old Babylonian Period as Revealed by Texts from Southern Mesopotamia. Studia et Documenta ad Iura Orientis Antiqui Pertinentia. Vol. 6. Leiden:Brill. pp. 36–55.LCCNa61001806.
[1]Moshenska, Gabriel, "'The Legend of Ea-Naṣir' How a Babylonian Businessman Became an Internet Meme", Journal of Contemporary Archaeology 12.1, pp. 52-76, 2026
