In the Epic of Atrahasis, Atrahasis is the man warned to survive the great flood. The Old Babylonian poem tells how the god Enki, also known as Ea, secretly instructs Atrahasis to build a boat and preserve life.
The surviving text is written in Akkadian cuneiform and is generally dated to the second millennium BCE. Its flood story includes divine conflict, a devastating deluge, a boat, and the use of birds after the waters recede. These features make it a major comparison point for the biblical Noah narrative.
Atrahasis is not simply another spelling of Utnapishtim. Utnapishtim is the flood survivor in the Epic of Gilgamesh, which incorporates a related story. The two figures belong to connected Mesopotamian literary traditions, but the question’s source text determines the correct name.