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Utnapishtim, whose name means "he found life" or "he who saw life", is also known as Atrahasis, meaning "the exceptional wise one". In the Akkadian sources, a wise citizen of Shurrupak on the banks of the Euphrates, or Ziusudra in the Sumerian poems. A wise king and priest of Shurrupak, he appears in the Epic of Gilgamesh as one of the two human survivors, who along with his wife and with 'the seed of all living creatures' survived a great flood sent by Enlil to kill everything on Earth. The Flood episode occurs in the eleventh table of the Gilgamesh epic. Utnapishtim was secretly warned by the water god Ea of Enlil's plan, and constructed a boat to save himself and representatives of each species of animal. When the flood waters subsided, the boat was grounded on the mountain of Nisir . When Utnapishtim's ark had been becalmed for seven days, he released a dove, who found no resting place and returned. A swallow was then released who found no perch, but the raven which was released third did not return. Utnapishtim made a sacrifice and poured out a libation on the top of mount Nisir.
Utnapishtim and his wife were granted immortality after the flood. Afterwards he is taken by the gods to live for ever at 'the mouth of the rivers' and given the epithet 'Faraway.' Later Gilgamesh decided to find Utnapishtim who still lived in the land of Dilmun, in the garden of the sun, in his fruitless search for eternal life.
The literary version we have from the library of Assurbanipal dates from the 7th century6th century 7th century 8th century other centuries) Events The religion of Islam starts in Arabia, the Qur'an is revealed, and Arabs spread Islam into Syria, Iraq, Persia, Egypt, North Africa and Central Asia. Sutton Hoo ship burial, East Anglia (modern, but translations of Sumerian texts have carried the history of the epic back into the third millennium B.C.31st century BC 30th century BC 29th century BC other centuries) ( 4th millennium BC 3rd millennium BC 2nd millennium BC) Events 2925 2776 BC First Dynasty wars in Egypt 2900 BC Beginning of the Early Dynastic Period I in Mesopotamia. Significant persons There are many similarities between Utnapishtim and the more recent legend of the biblicalThe Bible (From Greek βιβλια biblia meaning "books", which in turn is derived from βυβλος byblos meaning "papyrus", from the ancient Phoenician city of Byblos which exported papyrus) NoahNoah or Noach ("Rest", Standard Hebrew Noa Tiberian Hebrew No Arabic Nu is a character from the Bible story that describes him building the ark to save the people and animals from the Deluge, the universal flood. Noah was the son of Lamech and the grandso. Scholars usually assume that the author of this part of the BibleThe Bible (From Greek βιβλια biblia meaning "books", which in turn is derived from βυβλος byblos meaning "papyrus", from the ancient Phoenician city of Byblos which exported papyrus) has had knowledge of the Epic of Gilgamesh.
Sumerian mythology
