Which flood survivor did Gilgamesh visit to seek immortality?

Gilgamesh visited Utnapishtim, the flood survivor who had been granted immortality, to seek a way beyond death.

After Enkidu dies, Gilgamesh becomes terrified of his own mortality. He travels through dangerous and remote regions to find Utnapishtim, a figure who survived the great flood and was rewarded by the gods with eternal life. Their meeting forms the central narrative of Tablet XI of the Standard Babylonian version of the epic.

Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh that the god Ea warned him to build a boat before the flood. He preserved human life, animals, and craftsmen, then survived the destruction with his wife. After the waters receded, the gods made the couple immortal and settled them far from ordinary human society.

Atrahasis and Ziusudra are related flood heroes from other Mesopotamian traditions, and scholars commonly connect them with Utnapishtim. Noah belongs to the later biblical flood story. The names therefore reflect parallel or historically connected traditions, but in the Epic of Gilgamesh itself, the survivor Gilgamesh seeks is Utnapishtim. Gilgamesh ultimately fails to gain immortality, learning that death is part of the human condition.