What was the name of the Ark’s builder in the Epic of Gilgamesh?

Utnapishtim is the Ark builder in the flood story told in the Epic of Gilgamesh. The god Ea warns him of a devastating flood and instructs him to build a large boat, preserve living creatures, and survive the catastrophe.

The story appears on Tablet XI of the Standard Babylonian version of the epic. Utnapishtim releases birds to test whether the waters have receded, a sequence that strongly resembles later flood narratives. He ultimately receives immortality from the gods, unlike the biblical Noah, whose story centers on covenant, family survival, and the post-Flood renewal of the world.

Atrahasis is another important Mesopotamian flood hero, from the earlier Akkadian Atrahasis Epic, and is therefore a plausible but different answer. Gilgamesh himself is the epic’s hero and listener, not the person who builds the boat in Tablet XI. These traditions share motifs but are not identical versions of one text.