Utnapishtim
| Utnapishtim ππ£ | |
|---|---|
 Utnapishtim Makes Offering to the Gods by Allan Stewart, 1916 | |
First appearance | Sumerian King List c.β2000 BC |
Last appearance | Epic of Gilgamesh c.β1200 BC |
| In-universe information | |
| Occupation | King of Shuruppak (c.β2900 BC) |
| Family | Ubara-Tutu (father) |
Uta-napishtim or Utnapishtim (Akkadian: ππ£, "he has found life") was a legendary mortal king of the ancient city of Shuruppak in southern Iraq who, according to the Gilgamesh flood myth, survived the Flood by making and occupying a boat.
He is called by different names in different traditions: Ziusudra ("Life of long days", rendered Xisuthros, ΞΞ―ΟΞΏΟ ΞΈΟΞΏΟ in Berossus) in the earliest, Sumerian versions, later Shuruppak (after his city), Atra-hasis ("exceeding wise") in the earliest Akkadian sources, and Uta-napishtim ("he has found life") in later Akkadian sources such as the Epic of Gilgamesh. His father was the king Ubar-Tutu ("Friend of the god Tutu").
Uta-napishtim is the eighth of the antediluvian kings in Mesopotamian legend. He would have lived around 2900 BC, corresponding to the flood deposit at Shuruppak between the Jemdet Nasr and Early Dynastic levels.
In Mesopotamian narratives he is the Flood Hero, tasked by the god Enki (Akkadian Ea) to create a giant ship to be called Preserver of Life in preparation for a giant flood that will wipe out all life. The character appears in Tablet XI of the Standard Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh, at the culmination of Gilgamesh's search for immortality. The story of Uta-napishtim has drawn scholarly comparisons due to the similarities between it and the storylines about Noah in the Book of Genesis.