It is one of three Mesopotamian Flood Myths alongside the one included in the Eridu Genesis, and an episode from the Atra-Hasis Epic.

[1] A short reference to the flood myth is also present in the much older Sumerian Gilgamesh poems, from which the later Babylonian versions drew much of their inspiration and subject matter.

Gilgamesh's supposed historical reign is believed to have been approximately 2700 BC,[2] shortly before the earliest known written stories.

The discovery of artifacts associated with Aga and Enmebaragesi of Kish, two other kings named in the stories, has lent credibility to the historical existence of Gilgamesh.

The first Gilgamesh flood tablet was discovered by Hormuzd Rassam in Nineveh and was in the collection of the British Museum but had not been translated.

"[8][9] A much older Cuneiform tablet dating to 1646-1626 B.C., about one thousand years before the Book of Genesis is believed to have been written, and known as the Epic of Atra-Hasis describing a great flood was discovered in 1898.

Utnapishtim instructs his wife to bake a loaf of bread for every day he is asleep so that Gilgamesh cannot deny his failure.

Unfortunately, when Gilgamesh stops to bathe it is stolen by a serpent that sheds its skin as it departs, apparently reborn.

Gilgamesh, having failed both chances, returns to Uruk, where the sight of its massive walls provokes him to praise this enduring work of mortal men.

"[16] Tigay holds that we can see the mythmaker's hand at work here, changing a local river flood into an ocean deluge.

A. R. George, and Lambert and Millard make it clear that the gods' intention in Atrahasis is to "wipe out mankind".

[18] The use of a comparable metaphor in the Gilgamesh epic suggests that the reference to "dragonflies [filling] the river" is simply an evocative image of death rather than a literal description of the flood[19] Other editorial changes were made to the Atrahasis text in Gilgamesh to lessen the suggestion that the gods may have experienced human needs.

Sentences in Atrahasis III iv were omitted in Gilgamesh, e.g. "She was surfeited with grief and thirsted for beer" and "From hunger they were suffering cramp.

"[20] These and other editorial changes to Atrahasis are documented and described in the book by Prof. Tigay (see below) who is associate professor of Hebrew and Semitic languages and literature in the University of Pennsylvania.

Prof. Tigay comments: "The dropping of individual lines between others which are preserved, but are not synonymous with them, appears to be a more deliberate editorial act.

Hence these translations imply that the boat was about 200 feet high, which would be impractical[25] with the technology in Gilgamesh's time (about 2700 BC).

[28] Line 142 in Gilgamesh XI is usually translated "Mount Niṣir held the boat, allowing no motion."

[32] The first KUR is followed by a phonetic complement -ú which indicates that KUR-ú is to be read in Akkadian as šadú (hill) and not as mātu (country).

One of the Sumerian cities with a ziggurat was Eridu located on the southern branch of the Euphrates River next to a large swampy low-lying depression known as the apsû.

[41] In Gilgamesh XI, line 42 the flood hero said "I will go down [the river] to the apsû to live with Ea, my Lord.