Utnapishtim is the survivor who builds a great boat in the Epic of Gilgamesh’s flood story, a parallel to Noah’s Ark.
In the flood episode of the Epic of Gilgamesh, the god Ea warns Utnapishtim to build a boat and preserve life from the coming catastrophe. Utnapishtim loads his family, craftsmen, and animals, then releases birds after the waters recede. The episode shares recognizable motifs with Genesis, including divine warning, a vessel, survival, and birds used to test conditions.
Utnapishtim is not Noah under another spelling. He belongs to Mesopotamian literature, while Noah belongs to the Hebrew Bible. The two stories have different divine characters, settings, narrative details, and theological purposes. Their similarities are central to comparative discussions of ancient flood traditions.
The Epic of Gilgamesh was written in cuneiform traditions over many centuries. Its flood account is especially well known from Tablet XI of the Standard Babylonian version. Atrahasis is another Mesopotamian flood hero, which makes that name a plausible but incorrect alternative here.