Epic of Atrahasis

An Akkadian epic poem in which the gods create humanity to relieve their labor, then send a catastrophic flood to reduce human overpopulation.

Akkadian literature: Literature written in Akkadian, an ancient Semitic language used across Mesopotamia and the Near East. The poem belongs to Akkadian literary tradition and survives in that language.
Creation of humanity in Mesopotamian mythology: Mesopotamian accounts in which humans are made from divine materials to perform work for the gods. The poem explains humanity’s creation as a solution to the gods’ labor burden.
Old Babylonian period: A Mesopotamian historical period, roughly 2000–1600 BCE, marked by Babylon’s rise and extensive scribal activity. The principal surviving version of the epic was copied during this period.
Genesis flood narrative: The biblical account in which God floods the earth and Noah survives with his family and animals. Unlike Atrahasis, Genesis gives one God’s moral judgment as the flood’s stated cause.
Mesopotamian religion: The religious traditions of ancient Mesopotamia, centered on multiple gods and their relationships with humans and cities. The poem’s gods act within the religious world of ancient Mesopotamia.
Divine labor in Mesopotamian mythology: The idea that the gods perform physical work before humans are created to take it over. This labor crisis supplies the poem’s reason for creating humankind.
Atra-Hasis tablet: A fragmentary Old Babylonian clay-tablet manuscript preserving much of the Akkadian Epic of Atrahasis. This manuscript is the chief witness to the poem’s text.
Utnapishtim: The immortal flood survivor who recounts a deluge to Gilgamesh in the Epic of Gilgamesh. Utnapishtim occupies a role comparable to Atrahasis in a related epic tradition.
Enlil: A Mesopotamian god associated with authority, wind, and the ordering of the cosmos. Enlil drives the decision to destroy humanity with a flood.
Atrahasis: The human survivor of a divinely sent flood in the Akkadian epic named after him. His warning, boat, and survival carry the flood narrative.

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