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What is the most ancient riddle?
What is the oldest riddle?
Which ancient riddle has been here the longest?
What is the earliest written Riddle?
- Caitlin Willow Greyling
- The Most Ancient of all Riddles! This ancient Sumerian riddle has stood the test of time, putting noggins to the test for thousands of years! It’s also one of the oldest written riddles known to humankind.
- The Allfather’s Riddles. This ancient riddle hails from the legends of Norse mythology. It is said that Odin made this riddle up, amongst other ancient riddles, to fool King Heidrek.
- Odin Outsmarts the King. Here is another of the ancient riddles with which Odin challenged King Heidrek. “Mankind it mars, speech it hinders, yet speech it will inspire.”
- Lord of the Mysteries. J.R.R Tolkien is known for his literary prowess. Among creating whole fictional languages, writing poetry, and various novels, he was also adept at creating riddles.
- A Hobbit Head Scratcher
- The Mad Hatter's Dirty Trick
- Oedipus's Complex Problem
- A Harry Potter Puzzler
- Guarded Truths
- James Joyce Goes Deep
- The One That Started It All
- Think Hard
- Plato's Ancient Head-Scratcher
- Einstein's Fishy Puzzle
Anyone who’s gotten lost in Middle-earth knows that J.R.R. Tolkien loved a logic puzzle. The riddle competition between Bilbo Baggins and Gollum inThe Hobbitserves up several mind-bending morsels, the trickiest of which might be:
One of the most famous literary riddles in literature is also the most frustrating ... because it came without an answer! In Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, the Mad Hatter poses this puzzle to Alice:
In Sophocles’s Oedipus Rex, the title character must answer to the Sphinx to save his own life and continue his journey to Thebes. Spoiler: he nails it. The monster asks:
The Harry Potter series is teeming with playful language and cleverness, so it’s only right that a juicy riddle made its way into the series. In The Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling gives a nod to the Sphinx by putting one in the maze during the Triwizard Tournament. Harry is tasked with cracking this puzzle:
The riddle was coined by mathematician Raymond Smullyan and goes by many names—“A Fork in the Road,” “Heaven and Hell,” and “The Two Doors,” among them. It is probably most well known for having a role in the 1986 movie Labyrinth. Here’s the basic idea: You’re met with a choice between two identical doors with an identical guard at each. One door l...
In Ulysses, Stephen Dedalus poses a riddle to his pupils. A word to the wise: Don’t spend too much time trying to work this one out.
There is debate over who wrote the first riddle, but the ancient civilization of Sumer is certainly responsible for one of them. Sumerians’ contribution to the legacy of logic problems:
Another oldie-but-goodie originated in 18th-century England, though you might know it from Die Hardwith a Vengeance.
In The Republic, the philosopher Plato referencesa famous Greek riddle credited to someone named Panarces:
The so-called “Eistein’s Riddle” asks a simple question: “Who owns the fish?” It may not have been written by Einstein—sometimes it’s attributed to Lewis Carroll, and it’s highly likely that neither of them wrote it at all. Occasionally, some versions feature other animals, like zebras, instead of fish. But regardless of its origins, this riddle is...
Mar 19, 2019 · Ancient Sumer: The world’s oldest riddle. Even 4,000 years ago, people tested one another’s critical thinking skills with riddles and logic puzzles. This ancient civilization, located in what...
The first recorded riddle was from Rhind Mathematical Papyrus and can be dated back to 1650 BC. It goes a follows: There are seven houses; In each house there are seven cats; Each cat catches seven mice; Each mouse would have eaten seven ears of corn; If sown, each ear of corn would have produced seven hekat of grain.
- The Most Ancient Riddle of the World. Did you know that four thousand years ago, people used to test each other’s critical thinking abilities with the help of riddles?
- Sophocles: The Sphinx’s Riddle. Did I tell you how old this riddle this? How about I tell you it was written in the 5 century B.C.? Well, yes. It is that old.
- Samson’s Riddle in the Bible. Here comes another of the oldest riddles in the history of riddles. Well, it is not as old as the ancient Sumer one, but it sure is one of the oldest.
- The Riddle of Venice by William Shakespeare. Are you a fan of Shakespeare? Have you read all that he has written? How about the Merchant of Venice? If you are an avid reader of Shakespeare, you may not find this riddle to be much more difficult.
The first riddle, known as 'The Riddle of the Sphinx,' is from Greek mythology; the answer is usually said to be a man. The Riddle of the Sphinx dates to around 470 BC. This is the earliest record of the story's riddle, though the story itself is thought to have begun around 600 BC.
Ancient Sumer: The world’s oldest riddle. NICOLE FORNABAIO/RD.COM, SHUTTERSTOCK. Even 4,000 years ago, people tested one another’s critical thinking skills with riddles and logic puzzles. This ancient civilisation, located in what is today the country of Iraq, left us with one of the earliest known examples of a written riddle.
