Philogelos: The First Joke Book

The Philogelos, typically translated as “the joker” or “the one who loves laughter”, is an ancient Greek collection of approximately 265 jokes. Dating to the 4th or 5th century CE, it typically bears the title of the world’s oldest surviving collection of jokes.

NML Associate and Latin teacher Linda Thompson created these cartoons from the collection. Click on the images below to read about each joke.