In the Epic of Gilgamesh, Utnapishtim is the flood survivor most closely parallel to Noah in the Noah’s Ark tradition.
Utnapishtim appears in the epic’s Flood Story, where the god Ea warns him to build a boat and preserve life from a catastrophic flood. After the waters recede, Utnapishtim releases birds to find land, a sequence that resembles elements of Genesis’s Noah narrative.
The Epic of Gilgamesh is preserved in Babylonian cuneiform tablets, including the famous tablet from the Standard Babylonian version. Its flood account is part of a larger story about Gilgamesh’s search for lasting life.
Utnapishtim should not be confused with Atrahasis, another Mesopotamian flood hero from a related but distinct tradition. The names and details differ across texts, but both traditions belong to the wider ancient Near Eastern flood-literature background often discussed alongside Noah.