# Who is the earliest recorded named commoner or slave? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 21, 2012, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-earliest-recorded-named-commoner-or-slave/635449 "2012-09-21T23:08:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-earliest-recorded-named-commoner-or-slave/635449/1 "2012-09-21T23:08:45Z")
Historical texts and legends are replete with royalty, nobility, heroes, high priests, viziers et al. Commoners usually get short shrift. So who was the earliest named commoner or slave? I’m thinking that Shamhat the harlot from the Epic of Gilgamesh might qualify (Enkidu being a creation of the gods), but I’m sure there are those here who know the ancient texts. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2012, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-earliest-recorded-named-commoner-or-slave/635449/2 "2012-09-22T14:50:53Z")
Well, I was going to say Spartacus, but you’ve got me beat by a millenium or two. Senenmut, perhaps? He was Queen Hatchepsut’s chief architect, and rumored to be her lover. The fact that he was a commoner made a bit of a scandal. According to Wikipedia, the first record of him is when he started working on Hatchepsut’s tomb, in Year 7 of her reign. She is believed to have taken power somewhere between 1512 BC and 1479 BC. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2012, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-earliest-recorded-named-commoner-or-slave/635449/3 "2012-09-22T15:07:00Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > Well, I was going to say Spartacus, but you’ve got me beat by a millenium or two. > > Senenmut, perhaps? He was Queen Hatchepsut’s chief architect, and rumored to be her lover. The fact that he was a commoner made a bit of a scandal. > > According to Wikipedia, the first record of him is when he started working on Hatchepsut’s tomb, in Year 7 of her reign. She is believed to have taken power somewhere between 1512 BC and 1479 BC. He then has the advantage over Shamhat of having dates. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2012, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-earliest-recorded-named-commoner-or-slave/635449/4 "2012-09-22T17:21:57Z")
Aesop? ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2012, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-earliest-recorded-named-commoner-or-slave/635449/5 "2012-09-22T18:01:54Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > According to Wikipedia, the first record of him is when he started working on Hatchepsut’s tomb, in Year 7 of her reign. She is believed to have taken power somewhere between 1512 BC and 1479 BC. We also have the names of his parents (Ramose and Hatnofer) so that gives us commoners one more generation back. They were also probably a better fit for the OP’s definition of “commoner” then Senemunt, who was still a high court offical. If you use “commoner” to mean “not a king”, Imhotep is almost a millennia earlier. But he was a high-priest, so probably doesn’t count under the OP’s definition. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2012, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-earliest-recorded-named-commoner-or-slave/635449/6 "2012-09-22T18:08:25Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > If you use “commoner” to mean “not a king”, Imhotep is almost a millennia earlier. But he was a high-priest, so probably doesn’t count under the OP’s definition. That far back, were not the lines between the two positions somewhat blurred? ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2012, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-earliest-recorded-named-commoner-or-slave/635449/7 "2012-09-22T18:21:14Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > That far back, were not the lines between the two positions somewhat blurred? I don’t think so. The Pharaoh was a distinct position, and Imhotep was his inferior. Googling though, Imhotep was also a son of noble parents, so almost certainly doesn’t count. I’m pretty sure we have a lot of early commoner names though. My understanding is a lot of early cuneiform is simple economic writing of the form “A owes B six sheep”. I’d think A or B would probably be commoners in at least some cases. There’s also a decent number of tombs in Egypt that give names and belong to (presumably relatively well off) commoners. The Tomb of they Pyramid builders, for example, dates back to something like 2200 and has a large number of named commoners. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2012, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-earliest-recorded-named-commoner-or-slave/635449/8 "2012-09-22T18:36:31Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Historical texts and legends are replete with royalty, nobility, heroes, high priests, viziers et al. Commoners usually get short shrift. So who was the earliest named commoner or slave? > > I’m thinking that Shamhat the harlot from the Epic of Gilgamesh might qualify (Enkidu being a creation of the gods), but I’m sure there are those here who know the ancient texts. Shamhat was no slave. Hagar in the other hand was a slave of Abraham who existed based on biblical writings around the 19th century B.C. ---
**Author:** ![gms453](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@gms453](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gms453)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2012, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-earliest-recorded-named-commoner-or-slave/635449/9 "2012-09-22T20:18:20Z")
Wild guess: The Iliad’s Homer. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2012, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-earliest-recorded-named-commoner-or-slave/635449/10 "2012-09-22T20:28:41Z")
> [@gms453](#): > > Wild guess: The Iliad’s Homer. Is that like the famous Tolstoy biography “Leo Tolstoy” by Warren Piece? (but more seriously, we’ve already got several candidates the predate Homer.) ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2012, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-earliest-recorded-named-commoner-or-slave/635449/11 "2012-09-22T20:32:52Z")
> [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](#): > > Shamhat was no slave. True, but she was a temple prostitute. Not a high priestess. ---
**Author:** ![gms453](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@gms453](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gms453)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2012, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-earliest-recorded-named-commoner-or-slave/635449/12 "2012-09-22T21:25:04Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > Is that like the famous Tolstoy biography “Leo Tolstoy” by Warren Piece? > > (but more seriously, we’ve already got several candidates the predate Homer.) I like it! My wild guess was really a lazy guess since I didn’t bother to check the dates, but I do remember being surprised at how far back the experts say the events described in the Iliad took place. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2012, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-earliest-recorded-named-commoner-or-slave/635449/13 "2012-09-22T23:41:49Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > True, but she was a temple prostitute. Not a high priestess. Weren’t the lines between them blurred in the earliest times? ---
**Author:** ![FuzzyOgre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@FuzzyOgre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FuzzyOgre)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2012, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-earliest-recorded-named-commoner-or-slave/635449/14 "2012-09-23T00:19:50Z")
I think years ago I had a question about the earliest known village or town(but not city). I dont remember if I ever asked though, or got any meaningful results. So I understand your interest, and I am sure the questions could be linked. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2012, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-earliest-recorded-named-commoner-or-slave/635449/15 "2012-09-23T08:23:54Z")
> [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](#): > > Shamhat was no slave. Hagar in the other hand was a slave of Abraham who existed based on biblical writings around the 19th century B.C. Abraham’s tale is set in no particular time period and is likely a personification of the story of their ancestor’s travels from Mesopotamia up to Syria and back down into Canaan (probably the Amorites). This likely happened principally around 1600BC, not 1900. More importantly, it’s fiction. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2012, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-earliest-recorded-named-commoner-or-slave/635449/16 "2012-09-23T08:51:47Z")
> [@FuzzyOgre](#): > > I think years ago I had a question about the earliest known village or town(but not city). I dont remember if I ever asked though, or got any meaningful results. [Çatalhöyük](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%87atalh%C3%B6y%C3%BCk) Perhaps not _the_ earliest, but certainly one of the earliest. ---
**Author:** ![FuzzyOgre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@FuzzyOgre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FuzzyOgre)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2012, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-earliest-recorded-named-commoner-or-slave/635449/17 "2012-09-23T09:17:28Z")
> [@Shakester](#): > > [Çatalhöyük](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%87atalh%C3%B6y%C3%BCk) > > Perhaps not _the_ earliest, but certainly one of the earliest. Awesome! Thanks so much! ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2012, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-earliest-recorded-named-commoner-or-slave/635449/18 "2012-09-23T19:17:08Z")
Job was pretty well-off, but I don’t think he was actually noble. Would he count? ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-earliest-recorded-named-commoner-or-slave/635449/19 "2012-09-24T00:32:10Z")
The Book of Job was based upon the [Babylonian Theodicy](http://www.theodicy.org/babylonian-theodicy), with some important modifications. Job himself was probably not an historical person.