Which Mesopotamian epic contains the flood survivor Utnapishtim, a figure often compared with Noah?

The Epic of Gilgamesh contains the flood survivor Utnapishtim, a figure often compared with Noah. In the epic’s flood episode, Utnapishtim is warned to build a great boat and preserve life from a devastating flood.

Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh that the god Ea instructed him to abandon his possessions, build the vessel, and bring aboard living creatures and craftsmen. After the flood, he releases birds to discover whether the waters have receded, a sequence that invites comparison with Genesis.

The Epic of Gilgamesh survives in cuneiform tablets from ancient Mesopotamia, with the best-known flood account appearing in Tablet XI of the Standard Babylonian version. Related flood traditions also occur in the older Atrahasis Epic, where the survivor is called Atrahasis.

The similarities do not mean the two narratives are identical. Their characters, divine motives, religious settings, and narrative details differ substantially. The comparison is important because Mesopotamian flood literature predates the surviving written forms of the biblical Genesis account.