What is the earliest recorded (as in written) instance of a use of language that a historian would have reason to believe was an attempt at humor with no other intended purpose? A qualified entry would have been funny for its target audience but not necessarily to a modern audience (humor being subjective and all, the intent of the author is most important here)
Excuse the wordiness but I want to frame my question in a way that is specific so as to increase the chances of a possible definitive answer.
Oh, and I expect some comedians to show up here. If you’re attempting a serious answer, just give some background as to why you think such-and-such might be the oldest joke.
oldest one I can remember concerns a Roman emperor who collected taxes on urine from the city urinals (which was used in making felt).
His son asked for money and he handed over a few coins. Thanks, dad, the kid says and walks away. Dad calls after him, Does it smell funny? Kid sez no, why? Dad says That’s funny, it came straight from the urinal!
I guess it depends on how you define “joke.” The oldest known examples of humor are found in ancient Egyptian graffiti, much of which was scatological or obscene in nature and some of which contained slapstick images like people being pecked in the ass by birds or having bricks dropped on their heads.
As for written jokes as we would recognize them, I don’t know exactly which joke would be the oldest but ancient Greek literature is full of them. The Athenian playwright, Aristophanes (5th Century BCE) was kind of the Kevin Smith of his day. His plays were filled with dick and fart jokes.
The Epic of Gilgamesh, possibly the oldest known literature, from about 2000 BC, contains a joke of sorts. Gilgamesh has been challenged to stay awake for a week. Instead he falls asleep for a week, and when awakened denies it:
