Tablet From Ancient Mesopotamia Reveals How Teenagers Were a lot Like Gen Z Back Then

From social media to pop culture, different aspects have been blamed for how teenagers behave for generations, but it appears they may have been the same throughout history. Irrespective of the era they lived in, teenagers were never okay with their parents picking out their outfits. A part of an ancient letter written in the Akkadian language on a clay tablet is making rounds on the internet proving that ancient Mesopotamian teenagers were no different from today's Gen Zs.

A teenager who lived in ancient Babylon had no access to the internet but still found a way to rant about issues teenagers typically face. The clay tablet which dates back to 18th century BCE Mesopotamia captures the frustrations of a student named Iddin-Sin as he addresses the letter to his mother Zinu and gives her a snippet of his life. Rather than updating her about his well-being or studies or even missing his mother, he starts off the letter by berating Zinu for the clothes she gave him.

"Tell the lady Zinû: Iddin-Sin sends the following message," the letter read, according to translations extracted from "Letters From Mesopotamia" by A. Leo Oppenheim. "May the gods Šamaš, Marduk, and Ilabrat keep you forever in good health for my sake." After the brief pleasantries, Iddin-Sin gets down to business and reveals the real reason behind writing the letter. "From year to year, the clothes of the young gentlemen here become better but you let my clothes get worse from year to year. Indeed, you persisted in making my clothes poorer and more scanty. At a time when in our house wool is used up like bread, you have made my clothes poor."

"The son of Adad-Iddinam, whose father is only an assistant of my father, has two new sets of clothes, while you fuss even about a single set of clothes for me," the ranting student writes displaying the impact of peer pressure. "Although you bore me and his mother only adopted him, his mother loves him, while you, you do not love me!" Iddin-Sin writes as he concludes the emotional outburst. A portion of the clay tablet letter translation was shared by a TikTok creator @idea.soup. He added a hilarious caption that read: "Bro literally has no drip." People on social media were left amused and flooded the comments section with hilarious takes.

One user @who.me.adhd wrote, "You know that mama rolled her eyes and popped the letter away to bring back up at their 21st to embarrass him in front of his mates." @kellihennessey commented, "Like how some of the oldest known writing is a customer complaint. Humans are humans." @fationceka quipped, "This is the equivalent of the sandwich kid that complains about the sandwich to his mom." @blue6uru added, "You ungrateful dirtwad. Your mother is trying her hardest!" while @kiki20212021 remarked, "Kids being kids- I'm the only kid in school who doesn't get new clothes."

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Editor's Note: This article was originally published on May 9, 2024. It has since been updated.