In the Atrahasis Epic, the flood hero Atrahasis is warned by the god Enki. The Old Babylonian poem tells how the gods decide to send a devastating flood, while Enki secretly informs Atrahasis and helps him preserve life.
Atrahasis builds a boat and brings aboard his family, craftsmen, animals, and provisions. After the flood, he offers a sacrifice. The story is one of the oldest surviving written flood narratives and is preserved on cuneiform tablets from ancient Mesopotamia, including copies from the second millennium BCE.
The name can also be written Atra-Hasis, meaning something like “exceedingly wise.” The character is closely related to flood heroes in other Mesopotamian traditions. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, the comparable survivor is Utnapishtim, while Genesis names Noah. Enki is called Ea in Akkadian contexts, so translations and scholarly discussions may use both divine names. These parallels make Atrahasis a frequent source of confusion, but the Atrahasis Epic specifically centers on Atrahasis as its human flood survivor.