What is the name of the Ark’s survivor in the Epic of Gilgamesh?

Utnapishtim is the flood survivor who builds a boat in the Epic of Gilgamesh.

In the flood story embedded in the epic, the god Ea warns Utnapishtim to abandon his possessions and construct a large boat. Utnapishtim brings aboard his family, craftsmen, animals, and other living things. After the flood, he releases birds to determine whether the waters have receded.

The episode is one of the best-known Mesopotamian flood traditions and is often compared with the story of Noah in Genesis. The two narratives share motifs such as divine warning, a boat, preservation of life, birds, and a post-flood sacrifice, while differing in names, details, and theological setting.

Utnapishtim later tells the story to Gilgamesh, who seeks an answer to mortality. Utnapishtim has received immortality, making his role broader than that of a simple flood survivor in the epic’s larger plot.