Utnapishtim

One figure, four names. The Sumerian flood story calls him Ziusudra, the Akkadian flood epic calls him Atra-hasis, the Epic of Gilgamesh calls him Utnapishtim, and Berossus, writing in Greek, calls him Xisouthros. Making four records of that would be exactly the duplicate-transliteration error this registry forbids, so there is one record and the names are aliases. The story is constant: a god tips him off against the assembly's decision, he builds a boat, the flood comes, birds are sent out, he sacrifices, and the gods — who had not thought through what a world with no people would be like — settle the matter by making him and his wife deathless and putting them somewhere far away. Gilgamesh reaches him and learns that the precedent is useless, then fails to stay awake for seven nights, which rather settles the question of whether he could manage eternity.

Domains

• flood

Relations

• guide of: Gilgamesh

Sources

• Epic of Gilgamesh, Tablet XI; the Atra-hasis epic; the Sumerian flood story.
• Reference treatment of Utnapishtim, Atra-hasis and Ziusudra as one flood hero named differently across the Sumerian, Akkadian and later traditions.