In the Epic of Gilgamesh, Utnapishtim builds a flood vessel comparable to Noah’s Ark.
Utnapishtim is warned by the god Ea, also known as Enki, that a great flood is coming. He constructs a huge boat, brings aboard his family, craftsmen, and animals, and survives the disaster. After the waters subside, he releases birds to learn whether dry land has appeared.
The Mesopotamian flood account is preserved in cuneiform versions of the Epic of Gilgamesh, especially Tablet XI. Its flood episode shares several narrative features with Genesis, including a warned survivor, a vessel, animals, birds, and a post-flood offering, while the names, theology, and details differ.
Utnapishtim is not Noah under another spelling. He is the corresponding flood-survivor figure in a separate Mesopotamian literary tradition. The comparison is important because flood stories circulated in the ancient Near East long before modern retellings.