Utnapishtim is the flood survivor told to build a boat in the Epic of Gilgamesh.
In the eleventh tablet of the standard Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh, the god Ea warns Utnapishtim that the gods intend to send a devastating flood. Utnapishtim builds a large boat, brings aboard his family, craftsmen, and animals, and survives the catastrophe. After the waters recede, he releases birds to discover whether land has reappeared.
Utnapishtim is sometimes compared with Noah because both figures survive a divinely sent flood in a large vessel and preserve living beings. The stories are not identical, however. The Mesopotamian narrative has different gods, instructions, boat details, and aftermath. Utnapishtim later receives immortality, while Genesis presents Noah as living a long but finite life.
The Epic of Gilgamesh is preserved in cuneiform tablets and draws on older Mesopotamian flood traditions, including the Atrahasis story. Utnapishtim is the name used in the Gilgamesh version; Atrahasis and Ziusudra belong to related traditions.