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It is one of three Mesopotamian Flood Myths alongside the one including in the Eridu Genesis, and an episode from the Atra-Hasis Epic. Many scholars believe that the flood myth was added to Tablet XI in the "standard version" of the Gilgamesh Epic by an editor who used the flood story from the Epic of Atra-Hasis. [1]
Eridu Genesis, also called the Sumerian Creation Myth, Sumerian Flood Story and the Sumerian Deluge Myth, [1] [2] offers a description of the story surrounding how humanity was created by the gods, how the office of kingship entered human civilization, the circumstances leading to the origins of the first cities, and the global flood.
Most flood myths also contain a culture hero, who "represents the human craving for life". [1] The flood-myth motif occurs in many cultures, including the manvantara-sandhya in Hinduism, Deucalion and Pyrrha in Greek mythology, the Genesis flood narrative, the Mesopotamian flood stories, Cheyenne and Puebloan traditions.
The name "Atra-Hasis" also appears, as a king of Shuruppak on the Euphrates in the times before that flood, on one of the Sumerian King Lists. [4] The oldest known copy of the epic tradition concerning Atrahasis [ i ] can be dated by colophon (scribal identification) to the reign of Hammurabi ’s great-grandson, Ammi-Saduqa (1646–1626 BC).
In Mesopotamian narratives he is the Flood Hero, tasked by the god Enki (Akkadian Ea) to create a giant ship to be called Preserver of Life in preparation for a giant flood that will wipe out all life. The character appears in Tablet XI of the Standard Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh, at the culmination of Gilgamesh's search for immortality. [2]
Later in the story though, the god Enlil attempts to control overpopulation of humans through various methods, including famine, drought, and finally, a great flood. Mankind is saved by Atrahasis, who was warned of the flood by the god Enki and built a boat to escape the waters, eventually placating the gods with sacrifices. [2]
The Epic of Gilgamesh (/ ˈ ɡ ɪ l ɡ ə m ɛ ʃ /) [2] is an epic from ancient Mesopotamia.The literary history of Gilgamesh begins with five Sumerian poems about Gilgamesh (formerly read as Sumerian "Bilgames" [3]), king of Uruk, some of which may date back to the Third Dynasty of Ur (c. 2100 BCE). [1]
A complete text of Utnapishtim's story is contained on a clay tablet dating from the seventh century BCE, but fragments of the story have been found from as far back as the 19th century BCE. [3] The last known version of the Mesopotamian flood story was written in Greek in the third century BCE by a Babylonian priest named Berossus. From the ...