# Who Was the First Documented Person? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 11, 2003, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-documented-person/201029 "2003-09-11T20:03:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2003, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-documented-person/201029/1 "2003-09-11T20:03:22Z")
Who’s the earliest person we know of? Not a religious or literary character, but an actual person whose name and/or life we can confirm? ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2003, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-documented-person/201029/2 "2003-09-11T20:17:44Z")
The earliest hieroglyphs and cuneiforms don’t correspond to modern letters and sounds in a verifiable way. I’ve heard (but cannot cite) that the oldest writing sample is Babylonian cuneiforms of a cattle accounting ledger, so I’m gonna go with the owner of those cattle. Egypt’s earliest king was represented with a scorpion hieroglyph. While I’m pretty sure he didn’t have adventures like the Rock’s _Scorpion King_, Egypt’s King Scorpion is at least a contender. And for the one whose actual name we know, I’ll go out on a limb here and guess Hammurrabi. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2003, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-documented-person/201029/3 "2003-09-11T20:18:09Z")
Great minds think [alike.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=108755) There’s some good stuff in that thread. Wonder if we’ll come up with more this time around… ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2003, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-documented-person/201029/4 "2003-09-11T20:24:57Z")
How about that Iron-Age man they found frozen in a glacier? They don’t know his name but they know his “story,” through forensics. ---
**Author:** ![daniel801](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@daniel801](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/daniel801)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2003, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-documented-person/201029/5 "2003-09-11T20:27:09Z")
Don’t _you_ know? ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2003, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-documented-person/201029/6 "2003-09-11T20:28:19Z")
Sorry, Eve, but like lots of other real people, Osti was “undocumented.” ---
**Author:** ![FatBaldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2003, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-documented-person/201029/7 "2003-09-11T21:00:52Z")
If anyone, I would think that **Eve** should know the answer to this. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2003, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-documented-person/201029/8 "2003-09-11T21:04:08Z")
Didn’t Al Gore claim this honor? ---
**Author:** ![Fire\_Fox\_40](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b2d939/32.png) [@Fire\_Fox\_40](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fire_Fox_40)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2003, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-documented-person/201029/9 "2003-09-11T21:25:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Chefguy \* > \*\*Didn’t Al Gore claim this honor? \*\* No he invented the internet. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2003, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-documented-person/201029/10 "2003-09-11T22:03:41Z")
How about Gilgamesh? ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2003, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-documented-person/201029/11 "2003-09-11T23:07:03Z")
I think Gilgamesh is considered fiction. I suppose it might be based on fact, of course greatly exaggerated though. ---
**Author:** ![Not\_In\_Anger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3ab097/32.png) [@Not\_In\_Anger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Not_In_Anger)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2003, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-documented-person/201029/12 "2003-09-11T23:53:08Z")
I believe it was Menes, aka Meni, the first known pharaoh of the united kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt, ca. 3000 BC. Though an earlier documented Sumerian would certainly be possible. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-documented-person/201029/13 "2003-09-12T00:32:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fat Bald Guy \* > \*\*If anyone, I would think that **Eve** should know the answer to this. 😉 \*\* Hey, how old do you think I _am?_ ---
**Author:** ![slipster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@slipster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slipster)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-documented-person/201029/14 "2003-09-12T01:40:32Z")
It depends, obviously on what we accept as being documentation. The pharoah who united the Upper and Lower Kingdoms of Egypt was called Narmer. A relief picture of him on a ceremonial shield has been cited as the oldest known portrait of a person who can be identified by name. As for Al Gore, this really is getting tired. Check Snopes or any of a thousand other sources. He did \*not \* say he invented The Internet. Neither did he say he discovered Love Canal–Sarah Vowell, who was there when he supposedly made the statement, did a fascinating report on the NPR program **This American Life** in which she included the passage in which he supposedly said it. He said nothing even remotely similar; a reporter for The New York Times simply took some words out of a sentence, and strung them together with some other stuff he either made up, or which the voices in his head told him. Gore also did not say that he was the model for Oliver in **Love Story**. He said an article in a newspaper said it. And it did. And later author Erich Segal said it was true. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-documented-person/201029/15 "2003-09-12T01:41:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eve \* > \*\*Hey, how old do you think I _am?_ \*\* Well, to exhume yet again a hoary old SDMB joke, **Eve** , I can remember when you, **Satan** , and Adam ( **ARG220** ) were having a Great Debate about sin! 😉 To give a serious answer, Menes, the first Pharaoh of a united Egypt, fl. c. 3100 BC; Narmer, with dates at about the same and perhaps the same person as Menes, who left a ceremonial stele at Hierakonpolis; and “King Scorpion” (who shares only a name with the Rock’s character), who slightly preceded them – whose actual name is not known, but who used the scorpion as his symbol, are the three candidates, depending on the variety of proof you want. Menes is not attested to by contemporary inscriptions but is considered recent history by material only slightly later than him, so IMHO that counts as historical. Depending on whether you regard the scorpion cartouche as representing a name, King S. or Narmer is the first contemporarily recorded Egyptian king. Sumer dates back to slightly before this, but the first recorded kings with both names and dates known are a century or two later. Of the other possible candidates, China is legendary until about 2000 B.C. (the Hsia, first “historical” dynasty, dates from 1994 BC). And nobody can read any of the Indus Valley inscriptions, which postdate Egypt and Sumer by a century or two anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-documented-person/201029/16 "2003-09-12T02:02:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by slipster \* > \*\* > As for Al Gore, this really is getting tired. Check Snopes or any of a thousand other sources. He did \*not \* say he invented The Internet. Neither did he say he discovered Love Canal–Sarah Vowell, who was there when he supposedly made the statement, did a fascinating report on the NPR program **This American Life** in which she included the passage in which he supposedly said it. He said nothing even remotely similar; a reporter for The New York Times simply took some words out of a sentence, and strung them together with some other stuff he either made up, or which the voices in his head told him. Gore also did not say that he was the model for Oliver in **Love Story**. He said an article in a newspaper said it. And it did. And later author Erich Segal said it was true. \*\* [parody]However, he did introduce pants to Scotland in 1808, gave the first public demonstration of the flugelhorn in 1871, was the only man ever to pinch-run for Ty Cobb, and beat Orson Wells in the Great Hot Dog Eat-Off at Pink’s Hot Dog Stand in 1967.[/parody] ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-documented-person/201029/17 "2003-09-12T02:18:39Z")
Enmebaragisi founded the first dynasty of Kish, in northern Mesopotamia, around 2700 BC. He is known from concurrent and subsequent references and is believed to be a single historic person. He is reputed to be a contemporary of Gilgamesh, who’s historicity is less well accepted. (Some even believe he was a she, and a goddess of an earlier mythos.) Tris ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-documented-person/201029/18 "2003-09-12T02:40:45Z")
During this same rough period (6500 to 2600 BCE) the Harappan culture in the Indus valley developed a system of seals carved in stone bearing both pictures and script. We have no method for interpreting these seals, nor any example of how the images they would produce were used. There is some likelihood that some of these were used to represent people. Our own inability to decipher the symbols renders it impossible to know who was the earliest person represented in the Harappan culture’s symbols, but that person might well be earlier than the Sumerian, or Egyptian kings. Does that count as documented? Tris ---
**Author:** ![Not\_In\_Anger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3ab097/32.png) [@Not\_In\_Anger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Not_In_Anger)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-documented-person/201029/19 "2003-09-12T04:23:53Z")
Slipster. Yeah, you’re right, the name was Narmer. I couldn’t remember, so I looked in a couple really old history books lying around the house. Medes may have been the dynasty names; it’s unclear. And Triskadecamus, I think the Harrapan culture started later, say 2000-1800 BC. But was more impressive than either the Egyptian or Sumerian in certain ways. You could take the skulls found in Jericho, ca. 9000 BC, adorned with plaster to represent the face and shells for the eyes, as a form of documentation. ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-documented-person/201029/20 "2003-09-12T06:13:08Z")
semi-hijack Al Gore’s quote: > [@](#): > > During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet. Source is [SNOPES](http://www.snopes.com/quotes/internet.htm), but they claim the quote was “misinterpreted.” Interpret what you will, and I have a .wav available on emailed request. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-documented-person/201029.md?page=2)