Source recordAncient text
Atrahasis
Anonymous Babylonian poet · c. 1700 BCE (Old Babylonian copies) · Akkadian
Ancient text
Atrahasis
Anonymous Babylonian poet
Akkadian epic of humanity's making from clay mixed with a slain god's flesh and blood, the gods' attempts to silence human noise with plague and drought, and the flood that Atrahasis survives in a boat on Enki's warning.
About this work
Akkadian epic of humanity's making from clay mixed with a slain god's flesh and blood, the gods' attempts to silence human noise with plague and drought, and the flood that Atrahasis survives in a boat on Enki's warning.
Stories drawn from it
Retellings in the atlas that quote or cite this work.
The Great Flood and UtnapishtimmythThe gods decree a great flood to destroy humanity, but the wise god Ea warns Utnapishtim to build a boat and save the seed of all living things. This is the oldest known flood narrative, predating the biblical story of Noah.
Atrahasis and the Great FloodapocalypseWhen the gods plague humanity for making too much noise, Ea warns Atrahasis to build a boat. Floodwaters erase the old world — then the gods regret famine and grant a new order of mortality.
About this record
By Elizabeth Stein for Mythos Atlas. About the author. Editorial notes are grounded in the site's cited sources and can be challenged through the contact page.
Dates and authorship follow standard scholarly references; for many ancient works both are approximate or disputed.