Ziusudra is the Mesopotamian flood hero named in the Sumerian tradition.
He appears in the Sumerian Flood Story, also known as the Eridu Genesis. In that account, the gods decide to send a devastating flood, while the god Enki warns Ziusudra and instructs him to preserve life in a large boat. After the flood, Ziusudra offers a sacrifice and receives a special, divinely granted fate.
Ziusudra is related to, but not identical with, later flood figures. In the Akkadian Atrahasis Epic the hero is Atrahasis, and in the Epic of Gilgamesh the corresponding survivor is Utnapishtim. These traditions developed in Mesopotamia across different languages and periods, so treating the names as interchangeable obscures their textual history.