Which ancient Mesopotamian epic includes Utnapishtim’s flood story, a parallel to Noah’s Ark?

The Epic of Gilgamesh includes Utnapishtim’s flood story, a Mesopotamian parallel to the account of Noah’s Ark. Utnapishtim recounts the disaster to Gilgamesh during their conversation about mortality and eternal life.

In the narrative, the god Ea warns Utnapishtim to build a boat and preserve life. The flood comes, the vessel survives, and birds are sent out to test whether land has reappeared. Utnapishtim’s account shares several motifs with Genesis, including divine warning, a large boat, survival of living beings, a flood, and birds used as scouts.

The Epic of Gilgamesh is not the same work as the Enuma Elish, which is a Babylonian creation epic. Nor are the Iliad and Odyssey Mesopotamian texts; they are Greek epics associated with Homer. The flood episode is found in Tablet XI of the Standard Babylonian version of Gilgamesh.