Q 01/05

The oldest known joke, toilet humour from about 1900 BC, comes from which civilisation?

A) Egyptian

B) Greek

C) Sumerian

D) Roman

Answer · why

C) Sumerian

The Sumerian proverb, from about 1900 BC, describes a young wife who has never farted in her husband's lap; a 2008 University of Wolverhampton study n...

Q 02/05

In which city is the Westcar Papyrus, containing one of the oldest recorded jokes, on display?

A) Berlin

B) Cairo

C) London

D) Paris

Answer · why

A) Berlin

The Westcar Papyrus is held by the Egyptian Museum in Berlin; its five tales of magic at Khufu's court include Sneferu being rowed across a lake by wo...

Q 03/05

What does the title of the Philogelos, the oldest surviving joke book, mean in Greek?

A) Laughter-Lover

B) Friend of Wisdom

C) Lover of Words

D) Friend of Fools

Answer · why

A) Laughter-Lover

Philogelos means "Laughter-Lover" in Greek; the collection was compiled around the fourth or fifth century AD and is attributed to Hierocles and Phila...

Q 04/05

A joke in the ancient Philogelos about a newly bought slave dying is called an ancestor of which Monty Python sketch?

A) Ministry of Silly Walks

B) The Spanish Inquisition

C) Dead Parrot

D) Argument Clinic

Answer · why

C) Dead Parrot

The Philogelos seller protests that the slave 'never did that' while he owned him, echoing the Dead Parrot sketch's pet-shop owner who claims the bird...

Q 05/05

Roughly how many jokes does the Philogelos, the world's oldest joke book, contain?

A) 264

B) 26

C) 64

D) 164

Answer · why

A) 264

The Philogelos holds about 264 jokes, many of them variations on a few set-ups, including a run mocking the citizens of Abdera, Cyme and Sidon as dim-...