Utnapishtim is the Babylonian flood hero who parallels Noah in the Epic of Gilgamesh.
In the flood story embedded in the Epic of Gilgamesh, the god Ea warns Utnapishtim to build a boat and preserve life from a divinely sent flood. Utnapishtim survives with his family, craftsmen, and animals. After the waters recede, he releases birds to determine whether the land is dry, creating a series of parallels with the Genesis account.
The stories are not identical. Utnapishtim’s boat is described differently, the divine motives differ, and the surrounding myth belongs to Mesopotamian literature. The Epic of Gilgamesh is preserved in cuneiform tablets, with the best-known flood episode appearing in Tablet XI.
Scholars compare the accounts because both belong to the ancient Near Eastern flood-story tradition. Similarities do not by themselves prove that one text directly copied the other; transmission, shared cultural settings, and independent development are all considered in historical study.