Ancient letter from teenage boy to his mom proves that even 3,800 years later, some things never change

Even when everything else around us changes — technology, language, the way we live — some things stay oddly familiar. One of them, apparently, is teenagers complaining about things to their parents. A letter written nearly 4,000 years ago by a young man named Iddin-Sin to his mother, Zinu, has been preserved on a clay tablet now housed in the Louvre Museum, as reported by LBV. The message, composed in the ancient city of Larsa in Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq), reads less like a formal artifact of early civilization and more like a frustrated text from a modern teenager.

Scholars believe the letter was either written or dictated by Iddin-Sin while he was studying away from home at a temple school, being trained in reading and writing cuneiform in preparation for a role as a scribe, priest, or administrator. However, despite his elite status, he was not pleased with the clothes his mother had sent him, and he made that very clear. The letter is addressed via the standard opening, "Tell Mrs. Zinu that Iddin-Sin sends the following message." In a translation of the letter by Assyriologist Adolf Leo Oppenheim, he writes: "From year to year, the clothes of young gentlemen here improve, but you let my clothes deteriorate year by year. In fact, you insist on making my clothes poorer and sparser. In a time when wool is consumed in our house like bread, you’ve made me poor clothing."

He doesn't stop there. Iddin-Sin goes on to compare himself to the son of another man, who holds a lower-ranking position than his own father, Shamash-Hazir. He writes, "The son of Adad-iddinam, whose father is merely an assistant to my father, has two new sets of clothes, while you barely care to get me one. Although you gave birth to me and his mother only adopted him, his mother loves him, while you don’t love me!" The letter, dated to the time of Hammurabi’s reign (1792–1750 BCE), is believed to be one of the earliest documented cases of a personal grievance sent from a child to a parent.

Scholars aren’t certain whether Iddin-Sin wrote the letter himself or dictated it to a scribe. The use of the formulaic "Iddin-Sin sends the following message" suggests it may have been dictated. However, there are signs that it may have been written by the student himself: the tablet is filled on both sides, continues awkwardly onto the edge, and still runs out of space. Assyriologists have noted errors and clumsy phrasing, which could indicate that he was still learning. Whether his mother ultimately found it touching or infuriating, no one knows, but what makes the letter even more relatable is how specific the complaint is. Not only did Iddin-Sin want better clothes — he had opinions about who got them, how often, and why he deserved more.

The letter also made rounds on TikTok after being uploaded by creator Michael McBride on his page @idea.soup, and users couldn’t help but see the parallels between then and now. @who.me.adhd said, "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." @kiki983215 wrote, "Kids being kids, 'I'm the only kid in school who doesn't have new clothes.'" @kellihennessey added, "Like how some of the oldest known writing is a customer complaint. Humans are humans."

You can follow Michael McBride (@idea.soup) for more such interesting facts.