The complaint tablet to Ea-nāṣir
You might remember it as Ea-nasir copper complaint
Nanni says he was sold poor copper as fine, that his messengers were treated rudely, and that he wants his money back
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2018·The platform era·informative
A clay tablet from about 1750 BC in which a customer called Nanni complains to a merchant called Ea-nāṣir about the quality of his copper.
At a glanceThe facts
- Remembered as
- Ea-nasir copper complaint
- Spread in
- 2018
- Where it started
- physical
- Format
- Meme
- Where
- Found at Ur by Sir Leonard Woolley, in what is thought to have been Ea-nāṣir’s house; held by the British Museum
- What it said
- Nanni says he was sold poor copper as fine, that his messengers were treated rudely, and that he wants his money back
- Recorded
- About 1750 BC, in Akkadian cuneiform
- Origin
- Not an upload originally
- Available
- Not held by ViralWorld
What this wasThe story
A clay tablet about eleven centimetres high, excavated at Ur and held by the British Museum. In Akkadian cuneiform, a customer named Nanni tells a copper merchant called Ea-nāṣir exactly what he thinks of the goods delivered, the treatment of his servant, and the contempt he has been shown. Guinness recognises it as the oldest known customer complaint.
The tablet became a fixture of internet humour from around 2018, with a substantial body of jokes, merchandise and fan fiction, and museum staff have remarked on visitors arriving specifically to see it. It went on loan to the Zayed National Museum in Abu Dhabi in 2025.
Why it matteredWhat changed
Guinness recognises it as the oldest written customer complaint. It became an internet meme in 2015.
LegacyWhat it left behind
- Other tablets found in the same house also complain about his copper.1
More from hereIn this collection
Why it is here: something the internet still knows by name · copied, redrawn and reused until the original stopped mattering · it got out of its own corner of the internet fast · still being watched and quoted years later
This spread as an image people copied and reposted, not as a video upload. Originally published on physical.
Where it came fromWhat we know
There is no original upload to identify: this did not begin as one. There is no copy of it here either — what it was, when it appeared and what people called it is what this page can tell you.
Nothing here is claimed to be the first publication of this Moment, because the first publication was not an upload. This spread as an image people copied and reposted, not as a video upload. Originally published on physical.
Not established. This index only names a creator where the evidence supports it.
SourcesWhat was read
Sources last read on . That date is about the history on this page. Whether the media still plays is checked separately and can change any day. How ViralWorld documents things