The Epic of Gilgamesh and flood-tradition transmission
- Date of account
- Early forms in the 2nd millennium BCE; standard version 1st millennium BCE
- Location
- Mesopotamia
- Source
- model_recalled_reference
- Record updated
- 2026-10-10
Record summary
The Epic of Gilgamesh preserves a flood account in which Utnapishtim builds a boat after receiving divine warning, survives the destruction, and releases birds to test for dry land. Its relationship to the flood story in Atrahasis and later biblical Genesis has been studied through cuneiform manuscripts, scribal transmission, and shared Mesopotamian literary motifs. The text is a mythic epic, not a dated eyewitness record. It matters for comparison because recurring flood narratives can reflect cultural transmission, environmental memory, or literary adaptation without proving one global catastrophe.
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