In the 19th century CE, western institutions, including museums and universities, funded expeditions to Mesopotamia in hopes of finding physical evidence which would corroborate the historicity of biblical narratives. This same figure appears as Atrahasis (“exceedingly wise”) in the later work that bears his name, as Utnapishtim (“he found life”) in The Epic of Gilgamesh, and as Noah (“rest” or “peace”) in the Book of Genesis. The good man in this version of the tale, chosen to survive the flood and preserve life on earth, is the Priest-King Ziudsura of the city of Suruppak (whose name means “life of long days”). The story was first discovered in 1893 CE, during the period of widespread expeditions and excavations throughout Mesopotamia funded by western institutions.
Thomas Cole, Smithsonian American Art Museum and James Wallace Dean and museum purchase through the Smithsonian Institution Collections Acquisition Program, 1983.40. Thomas Cole, The Subsiding of the Waters of the Deluge, 1829 CE, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. The story most likely influenced the Egyptian “flood story” known as The Book of the Heavenly Cow (dated, in part, to the First Intermediate Period of Egypt, 2181-2040 BCE) but certainly was the inspiration for the later Mesopotamian works as well as the biblical narrative of Noah. Scholars who have studied the text generally rely on the later Akkadian/Babylonian Atrahasis – which tells the same tale – to fill in the blanks of missing text from the broken tablet. The extant work is badly damaged, with a number of significant lines missing, but can still be read and easily understood as an early Great Flood story. 2300 BCE in its written form but is thought to be much older, preserved by oral tradition until committed to writing. 2150-1400 BCE), and – most famously – the story of Noah and his ark from the biblical Book of Genesis (c. The Sumerian Flood Story (also known as the Eridu Genesis, Sumerian Creation Myth, Sumerian Deluge Myth) is the oldest Mesopotamian text relating the tale of the Great Flood which would appear in later works such as the Atrahasis (17th century BCE), The Epic of Gilgamesh (c. It would appear in later works such as the Atrahasis, The Epic of Gilgamesh, and – most famously – the story of Noah and his ark.