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Around 1750 BC, a merchant named Nanni, living in the ancient city of Ur, etched his anger onto a clay tablet in cuneiform script, directed at a merchant named Ea-nasir who had sold him poor quality copper ingots and treated his envoy rudely.

This artifact, currently housed in the British Museum collection (Accession number: BM 131236 / 1953,0411.71), is recognized as the oldest known customer complaint letter in history and has also become a popular meme subject in internet culture.

In the letter, Nanni expresses his indignation at Ea-nasir’s failure to keep his word, his attempt to deliver substandard goods, and his rude treatment of Nanni’s envoys.

Nanni’s Complaints

According to the surviving translation of the Akkadian text on the tablet, Nanni states, in summary, the following:

1. Ea-nasir had initially promised to give him quality copper ingots, but later did not keep this promise.
2. Ea-nasir placed poor quality copper ingots in front of Nanni’s envoy Sit-Sin, saying “If you want to take them, take them; if you don’t, go away!”, and treated his envoy very rudely.
3. He writes that a respectable person like himself cannot be treated with such contempt, and that his envoys, sent to retrieve his entrusted money, were sent back empty-handed repeatedly, despite passing through dangerous lands.
4. He emphasizes that no other merchant trading with Dilmun had ever treated him so disrespectfully.
5. At the end of the letter, Nanni states that he will no longer accept any low-quality goods from Ea-nasir, that he will inspect and select each ingot individually in his own courtyard, and will exercise his right to refuse them when he wishes.

Geographical Location of the Event and Trade Network

This event took place in Southern Mesopotamia, in the ancient city of Ur. Today, this region corresponds to the Zikar (Dhi Qar) province and the vicinity of Nasiriye city, located in southern Iraq.

The copper trade mentioned in the letter was part of an international trade network conducted with Dilmun (today’s Bahrain region) via the Persian Gulf during that period.

Historical Importance and Trade of Copper

Copper is one of the oldest known mineral trade items in human history.

First Processing and Smelting: Humankind’s contact with copper dates back to 7000 BC. In Neolithic sites in Anatolia such as Çayönü and Çatalhöyük, natural copper was known to be cold-worked. Around 5000–4000 BC (Chalcolithic Age), the smelting of ore and casting it into molds was discovered.

Geographical Necessity and Trade Networks: Southern Mesopotamia (the geography of Sumer and Babylon) was entirely devoid of metal ore due to its alluvial soils. Therefore, Mesopotamian cities had to meet their copper needs from regions like Oman (known as Magan in ancient sources), Anatolia, the Iranian plateau, and Cyprus through long-distance trade routes starting from 3000 BC.

Bronze Age and Strategic Importance: The manufacturing of bronze (by melting and mixing copper with tin) made copper the most strategic raw material of its time, both militarily (weapons and armor) and economically (agricultural tools and pottery).