Which ancient Mesopotamian flood story is named after the survivor Atrahasis?

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The ancient Mesopotamian flood story named after the survivor Atrahasis is the Atrahasis Epic.

The poem, written in Akkadian, tells how the god Enki warns Atrahasis about a flood planned by the gods. Atrahasis builds a vessel, saves living creatures, and survives, making the work one of the most important early flood narratives.

A particularly important witness is a Babylonian tablet from the seventeenth century BCE, although the composition survives in several copies and versions. The story predates the standard form of the Epic of Gilgamesh and shares motifs with both Gilgamesh and Genesis.

Atrahasis is a person’s name, while “Atrahasis Epic” is the title used for the literary work. The flood survivor in the later Gilgamesh narrative is Utnapishtim, so those names should not be treated as interchangeable.

Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Oct. 2026

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