Which ancient Mesopotamian text contains the flood hero Atrahasis?

The Atrahasis Epic is the ancient Mesopotamian text that contains the flood hero Atrahasis.

The poem is named after its central human figure, Atrahasis, whose name is often translated as “exceedingly wise.” In the surviving Babylonian narrative, the gods decide to send a devastating flood, and the god Enki warns Atrahasis so that he can build a boat and preserve life.

The story includes themes later familiar from other flood traditions: a divine warning, a specially constructed vessel, the survival of a human family, animals aboard the boat, and a sacrifice after the waters recede. It is one of the major Mesopotamian flood accounts relevant to comparative study of the Noah narrative.

Atrahasis is not the same character as Utnapishtim. Utnapishtim appears in the Epic of Gilgamesh, while Atrahasis belongs to the work named for him. The two figures share important narrative features because Mesopotamian flood traditions developed through related literary transmission.