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{{short description|Akkadian creation myth}}
{{Italic title}}
{{Mesopotamian myth|expanded=5}}

'''''Atra-Hasis''''' ({{langx|akk|{{cuneiform|𒀜𒊏𒄩𒋀}}|Atra-ḫasīs}}) is an 18th-century BC [[Akkadian literature|Akkadian]] [[Epic poetry|epic]], recorded in various versions on [[clay tablet]]s<ref>''[https://books.google.com/books?id=_qm-Zx9_h_UC Ancestor of the West: Writing, Reasoning, and Religion in Mesopotamia, Elam, and Greece]''. Chicago: [[University of Chicago Press]]. {{ISBN|978-0226067155}}. p. 40.</ref> and named for one of its protagonists, the priest Atra-Hasis ('exceedingly wise').<ref>{{Cite book |last=Helle |first=Sophus |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9yJCEAAAQBAJ&dq=Atra-Hasis&pg=PT15 |title=Gilgamesh: A New Translation of the Ancient Epic |date=2021-10-26 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-26259-9 |language=en}}</ref> The narrative has four focal points: An organisation of allied gods shaping Mesopotamia agriculturally; a political conflict between them, pacified by creating the first human couples; the mass reproduction of these humans; and a great deluge, as has been handed down many times in the different [[flood myth]]s of the Near East and Levant. Perhaps the relic of a natural [[Flood myth#Mesopotamia|catastrophe in Mesopotamia]] caused by rising sea levels at the end of the [[last glacial period]], localized flooding on the Euphrates, the flooding of the Black Sea, or ancient peoples attempting to explain fossils and remains of sea life found far inland, the epic links this flood with the intention of the upper gods to eliminate their artificial creatures.

The name "Atra-Hasis" also appears, as a king of [[Shuruppak]] on the [[Euphrates]] in the times before that flood, on one of the ''[[Sumerian King List]]s''.<ref>"[[Sumerian King List]]." [[Sumerian King List#Sources|''WB 62'']], ''circa'' 2000 BC.</ref> The oldest known copy of the epic tradition concerning Atrahasis<ref group="lower-roman">The variant versions are not direct translations of a single original.</ref> can be dated by [[Colophon (publishing)|colophon]] (scribal identification) to the reign of [[Hammurabi]]’s great-grandson, [[Ammi-Saduqa]] (1646–1626 BC). However, various [[Akkadian language#Dialects|Old Babylonian dialect]] fragments exist, and the epic continued to be copied into the first millennium BC.<ref name="Atrahasis" />{{Rp|8–15}}

The story of Atrahasis also exists in a later Assyrian dialect version, first rediscovered in the [[Library of Ashurbanipal]], though its translations have been uncertain due to the artifact being in fragmentary condition and containing ambiguous words. Nonetheless, its fragments were first assembled and translated by [[George Smith (Assyriologist)|George Smith]] as ''The [[Babylonia|Chaldean]] Account of [[Book of Genesis|Genesis]]'', the hero of which had his name corrected to ''Atra-Hasis'' by [[Heinrich Zimmern]] in 1899.

In 1965, [[Wilfred G. Lambert]] and [[Alan Millard]]<ref>[[Wilfred G. Lambert|Lambert, Wilfred G.]], and [[Alan Millard]]. 1965. ''Cuneiform Texts from Babylonian Tablets in the British Museum''. London.</ref> published many additional texts belonging to the epic, including an Old Babylonian copy (written c. 1650 BC) which is the most complete recension of the tale to have survived. These new texts greatly increased knowledge of the epic and were the basis for Lambert and Millard’s first English translation of the Atrahasis epic in something approaching entirety.<ref name="Atrahasis">[[Wilfred G. Lambert|Lambert, Wilfred G.]], and [[Alan Millard|Alan R. Millard]]. 1999 [1969]. ''Atrahasis: The Babylonian Story of the Flood''. London: [[Eisenbrauns]]. {{ISBN|1-57506-039-6}}.</ref> A further fragment was recovered in [[Ugarit]].

==Myths and facts==
[[Image:bm-epic-g.jpg|thumb|[[Cuneiform script|Cuneiform]] tablet with the ''Atra-Hasis'' epic in the [[British Museum]]|354x354px]] The epic of Atra-Hasis contains the myth of the creation of mankind by [[Enlil]], [[Anu]] and [[Enki]], also known as [[Anunnaki]] and [[Igigi]], the superior and the inferior gods. They seem to have been united in an organization similar to that which existed in Greece between Zeus – as ‘pure spirit or air’ the leading party – and the groups round Poseidon (ocean) and Hades (earth).<ref group="lower-roman">[[Walter Burkert]] traces the model drawn from Atrahasis to a corresponding passage, the division by lots of the air, underworld and sea among [[Zeus]], [[Hades]], and [[Poseidon]] in the ''[[Iliad]]'', in which “a resetting through which the foreign framework still shows” (pp. 88–91).[[Walter Burkert|Burkert, Walter]]. 1992. ''The Orientalizing Revolution: Near Eastern Influence on Greek Culture in the Early Archaic Age''. [[Harvard University Press]].</ref> (Compare also the triple alliance of the party around Zeus and the two from Atlantis to Greece defected groups around Epi- and Prometheus.<ref name="Graves">{{Cite book |last=Graves |first=Rank |title=Griechische Mythologie |trans-title=The Greek Myths |chapter=Atlas und Prometheus}}</ref>)
The [[Eridu Genesis]] resembles Atrahasis in some central aspects. It reports on the beginning of civilisation on earth, even hinting that the groups of prehistoric man previously roamed Mesopotamia as free nomads.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jacobsen |first=Thorkild |title=The Eridu Genesis |year=1981 |edition=Journal of Biblical Literature. 100 |pages=513–529}}</ref>

Archaeologist and prehistorian [[Klaus Schmidt (archaeologist)|Klaus Schmidt]], among others, researched the founding of Mesopotamian civilisation by ancient nomadic communities. According to his [[Interdisciplinarity|interdisciplinary]] view, the cultivation of large agricultural areas and the erection of monumental structures such as [[Göbekli Tepe]] could hardly have been accomplished by singel groups of [[Hunter-gatherer|hunter-gatherers]], but rather presupposes the formation of first cross-group organisations. Small communities, which had previously lived self-sufficiently and in competition with one another, must have decided to settle their conflicts in order to cooperate in what would henceforth be a shared territory. This situation may be described quite well by the alliance between the three god parties in Atrahasis – a process associated with the [[Neolithic Revolution]] that began around 12,000 BC, and thus "much earlier than previously assumed."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Linsmeier |first=Klaus-Dieter |date=2005-10-14 |title=Eine Revolution im großen Stil |url=https://www.spektrum.de/magazin/eine-revolution-im-grossen-stil/836862 |website=Spektrum}}</ref>

===Overview===
In the main, the epic reports on a conflict between some of the first Sumerian gods and draws on the earlier myth of the separation of air and earth (‘above’ and ‘below’) in the midst of the [[Abzu|cosmic freshwater primordial ocean]] to clarify their hierarchical relationship. Enlil represents the leading party in the council of gods; the party of [[Anunnaki]] around Anu belongs more to the upper heaven, and that of [[Igigi]] around Enki more to that below the earth sphere.

All three parties are bound by the [[Tablet of Destinies (mythic item)|Tablet of Destinies]], which Enlil is the only one to possess. In the Sumerian myths, its bestowed on him by the earth mother goddess [[Ninhursag|Ninḫursag]] herself (cf. [[Anzû|Anzu myth]]). His aptitude as the greatest warrior and chief strategist of the divine tribal alliance gives him power over the other parties of gods; only he has the ability to transform present circumstances back into their original state – redefining the course of [[Destiny|fate]].<ref name="Sennacherib">{{Cite journal |last=George |first=Andrew |date=1986 |title=Sennacherib and the Tablet of Destinies |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4200258 |journal=Iraq |volume=48 |pages=133–146|doi=10.2307/4200258 |jstor=4200258 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

As a permanent legal document the tablet was provided with a [[Cylinder seal|seal]], a sign mechanically applied by means of a special technique, which in ancient Mesopotamia was regarded as a symbol of a contract.<ref name="Sennacherib" /> Contracts have been directly related to tribute payments to be made: often to shares of the food produced (see the cattle to be divided equitably between [[Prometheus]] and Zeus), but generally to assistance in battle or labour, such as the construction of mighty irrigation channels as described in the epic discussed here. As far as the male groups of gods were concerned, the separate task of reproduction fell to the seven divine wombs, the [[Šassūrātu|shassuratu]] presided over by Ninḫursag (''[[Mami (goddess)|Mami]]'').

The plot of the epic follows a simple pattern:

*The creation of earth and all creatures that inhabit it is already complete.
*An organisation of at least three male parties of gods exist; they seem to specialise in ‘thinkers and workers’.
*The gods doing the hardest farm labour are dissatisfied and rise up against Enlil (master of the universe).
*With help of divine women* the victorious party arranges the production of a first pair of humans who, with all their descendants, are to serve all the gods as labour slaves for eternity /* cf. Athena's contribution to [[Pandora]].
*As result of the unrestrained multiplication of the humans, an overpopulation crisis breaks out, which the upper gods try to get under control, among others by triggering a global flooding to wash humanity as a whole off the face of mother earth.
As is well known, this genocidal project failed. In the tale of Atra-Hasis the reason for this divine misadventure was not so much the human's shipbuilding skills (''[[Noah's Ark]]''), but the quarrelling between the gods. Finally, they seal their fate as well as that of mankind by agreeing on a utopian method to regulate the reproduction of their creatures to a bearable level.

Two aspects of Atra-Hasis were adopted in the [[Epic of Gilgamesh]] around 1200 BC: the primal scene of the 7-day mating period of a man with a woman and the devastating deluge. The Old Testament probably also referred to these two themes of Atra-Hasis, with the former as [[Adam and Eve]]'s creation and the latter as the [[Genesis flood narrative|biblical flood narrative]]. The God-fearing priest Atraḫasis – the only one who was therefore allowed to survive the attempted delation with his wife, ensuring continued existence of artificially constructed humanity – appears there as [[Noah]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Utnapishtim {{!}} Noah, Flood & Epic {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Utnapishtim |access-date=2024-11-04 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

==Synopsis==
{{more citations needed section|date=November 2011}}

=== Tablet I ===
The epos taking place according to its [[incipit]], "When the gods had to work like humans (''inuma ilu awilum'' = when the gods were humans)", there was a quarrel between the upper Anunnaki and the Igigu, the lower gods. While the latter had the task of ensuring the supply of the land through construction of irrigation canals by digging out the beds of big rivers, the Anunnaki ruled from above, presumably watching over the implementation of their plans and dividing the fruits of this great civilising project as they saw fit. After 40 years, however, the lesser gods rebelled and refused to do strenuous labor. At night, they surrounded the dwelling place of [[Enlil]], who was considered the main god of Sumerian civilisation, the separator of air and earth in the midst of the cosmic ocean.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Kramer|first=Samuel Noah|url=|title=Sumerian Mythology: A Study of Spiritual and Literary Achievement in the Third Millennium B.C.|date=2020-03-05|publisher=Pickle Partners Publishing|isbn=978-1-83974-294-1|language=en}}</ref>

Enlil was surprised and called for Anu and Enki. Nusku, one of the sons and Enlil's ambassador here, tried to negotiate with the rebellious party, but had no success. Enlil, who also was the benevolent, wise leader of all the gods, didn't want a battle with the risk of serious injuries and deaths, and to avoid this he devised the plan to create easily controllable (obedient) humans to do the hard labour in place of the rebellious gods. He asked [[Mami (goddess)|Mami]] – leader of the 7 goddess wombs – if she could help. Mami declared that she could only fulfil this request with Enki's assistance. Enki, agreeing, advised the assembly of all gods that they should first cleanse themselves for everything else. They do. On the fifteenth day of this project, he cut up [[Geshtu-E]] – 'ear', a partie who listened for wisdom<ref group="lower-roman">On some tablets the slained under-god is called [[Weila]] or [[Aw-ilu]].</ref> – into pieces (cf. Plato's dissection of the rebellious [[Symposium (Plato)#Aristophanes' speech|spherical people]] into weak single individuals) and began to create the first human being to the sound of drums. He took clay from the soil of the steppe (Mami was regarded as primordial mother ''earth'', so with the clay from her body female fertility came into play here), mixed it with the spilt blood and added a touch of cosmic water, bringing it to its living form. When the creature awoke, Mami approached, handed it a carrying basket and taught it to work for the gods from then on.

(''Here is a gap in the tablet; when it resumes the first man now has a wife. It is impossible to say what the missing passage might have contained in terms of descriptions of where this woman came from – whether, for example, she was also made of clay like the man, or whether she came into existence in a completely different way. Certain  is that subsequent myths tell of similar narratives, including the creation of first human couples by the gods Enki and Ninmah in the [[Eridu Genesis]], written around the same time; that of Adam and Eve by the God of the [[Genesis creation narrative|Hebrew Genesis]] ca. one thousand years later; and the creation of [[Pandora]] for marriage to Epimetheus by the group of gods around Zeus in Hesiod's [[Theogony]].'')

To complete the construction of humans in the optimal way, Mami encouraged the young couple to celebrate a seven-day feast in honour of [[Isthar]], the goddess of war and sexuality.* Both obeyed. After 9 months, the land of the gods gave birth to its first human child, whose purpose in life was to be the same as that of his parents.

(* ''Cf. [[Epic of Gilgamesh|Gilgamesh epic]]: there, too, the gods arranged a seven-day sexual act to pacify a kind of cold war. Protagonists are Enkidu: an almost invincible, rebellious animal-man or son of the "Gazelle" [[Totem|clan]], and the female temple servant Shamkat, endowed with all advantages necessary for that purpose. Enkidu, who had previously destroyed so many animal traps with his fierce group of relatives, fell into this new type of trap. After having sex for 7 days, he was ‘weakened’: his herd of alleged animals fled into the steppe in horror. He was shocked of his lonely separation, but Shamkat, unaware that she was only following the gods' plan to domesticate Enkidu according to his further destiny, tried to comfort him: "Don't grieve; you have knowledge now, just like the gods!" See also Adam's and Eve's enjoyment of the Fruit of the [[Tree of the knowledge of good and evil|Tree of Knowledge]] in Eden.'')

1200 years later, humans had multiplied to such an extent that they disturbed the gods with their noise. Enlil was annoyed and decided that [[Namtar]], his god of the [[Ancient Mesopotamian underworld|dead's realm]], should carry off most of humans with frost fever, so a great extinction began. Enki, probably worried that he would end up having to work again himself, approached his faithful priest Atraḫasis and advised him to do following: The other gods should no longer be worshipped, but only Namtar. This flattered the god of deadly diseases so much that as soon as he had begun his pandemic work, he ceased to eliminate people.

=== Tablet II ===
[[File:Baylonianmaps.JPG|thumb|300px|Babylon's world map. The more vertical lines indicate the banks of [[Euphrates]], one of the rivers, where the Igigu worked. The small circles show city states such as [[Uruk]] and the triangles mountains at the world's edge, including [[Mount Ararat|Ararat]], on which Noah ''Atra-Hasis'' stranded. The belt is a symbol of the goodess sea serpent [[Tiamat]] surrounding earth since its creation.<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUxFzh8r384 |title=The Babylonian Map of the World with Irving Finkel {{!}} Curator's Corner S9 Ep5 |date=2024-10-11 |last=The British Museum |access-date=2024-09-01 |via=YouTube}}</ref> She, the Abzu and the Flood are probably sources of the [[Leviathan]], a human-consuming cosmic sea monster.]] Tablet II is about the unstoppable increase in overpopulation.

After another 1200 years there were many more humans, they roamed around like roaring herds of cattle. Because the gods in upper part of heaven could no longer even sleep, Enlil sent [[Adad]] and, again 1200 years later, the fertility goddess [[Nisaba]] to devastate the land with storms and dry up the harvests. Enki – dwelling in the lower part of sky – told his priest Atraḫasis what to do about it each time: Only Adad and Nisaba should be sacrificed to, the other gods should be left to starve. The pious priest acted according to this divine advice; Adad and Nisaba were so ashamed of this undeserved favour that they abandoned their endeavour. Enlil now completely enraged against Enki and decreed that a mighty flood should consume all of humanity. In addition, he made Enki swear before the Anunnaki that he would not speak another word to humans; he then began to consult with the assembled gods about the exact date and duration of the deluge to be unleashed.

''(Enki in his relation to Enlil can be seen to have parallels to [[Prometheus]] rebelling against Zeus. Zeus was also originally the wise leader of a political organisation (primeval Athens), in which the double party of Titans ''Prometheus and Epimetheus'' embodied the inferior gods. According to the story, Zeus' character changed after a period of flourishing civilisation: he became stingy and unjust. In any case, these are the arguments Prometheus used to justify his uprising against 'heaven': he stole the god's fire, cheated Zeus out of the best part of a cow and even had an affair with Athena, who let him enter Olympus through a back door.''<ref name="Graves"/>'' Zeus solved this revolt by producing [[Pandora]] as Epimentheus' fatal wedding gift, dividing and ruling the titanic brothers. Similarly to Prometheus, Enki defies the orders of the upper gods, who now harbour genocidal intentions against the humans, and proves to be the benefactor of these creatures, who were of course only created as labour slaves to pacify the rebellion of the sub-gods around Enki.)''

=== Tablet III ===
Tablet III contains the [[flood myth]].

[[File:Babylon's world view.jpg|thumb|300px|The Sumerian Genesis describes the [[Abzu]] as a cosmic freshwater ocean that surrounds our planet (created in its midst) above and below, so the sketch shows the same as [[Babylonian Map of the World|Babylon's map]], now in sideview. A bubble of breathable air clings to Earth, with the Abzu as roof like on Athrahasis' lifeboat. Further details, such as Noah's island ''Dilmun'', are taken from the epic of Gilgamesh. An important technical detail are the [[Gate valve|sluices]] built into sky. Through them, the gods, skilled in construction of irrigation systems, supplied their Garden of Eden with rain, but also unleashed the Flood.]]
Well informed with all details, Enki went to his priest's reed hut, but waited until Atraḫasis began to lie down to sleep. Then, speaking cunningly to the hut's wall so as not to breach the contract, Enki told 'it'<ref group="lower-roman">Suggestive of an [[oracle]].</ref> what to do: ‘''Separate yourself from your house, build a ship, spurn your possessions, save your life''.’ The ship should be cube-shaped and also be watertight from above with a roof "like [[Abzu]]" itself. Atraḫasis should not tell anyone about the coming flood, take a large supply of food with him (including live birds and even fish, as the poet added with humorous irony) and keep an eye on the hourglass for seven days from start of the catastrophe. So the priest '''Extremely Wise''<nowiki/>' hurriedly left his belongings under a pretence and began building the ship. He invited his neighbours to help and had no scruples about promising them that the reward would soon come richly from heaven. The deadline was pressing, so he organised a big party to attract more workers. He himself was unable to eat during the lavish feast, so nauseous was he with fear of the impending punishment of the gods.

When [[Hadad|Adad]] gathered the clouds and the winds began to roar from all ends of the world, Atraḫasis and at least one fertile woman (the ''masters sons'' too) climbed into the ship and sealed its entrance hatch from inside with [[bitumen|pitch]]. The ark swirled like a pot on the waves of the mighty flood thundering down from the open floodgates of the cosmic primordial ocean. And how furious Enlil was at his foiled plan to destroy mankind! - The other gods, however, suffered from hunger, as they were unable to find any more humans to feed them in the midst of the raging chaos. They cry at the immense destruction, and Mami ([[Belet-ili]]) raised serious accusations against Enli: "Why you, the ''greatest'' warrior of all gods, didn't fight the rebels" (instead of constructing humans)?!

[[File:Post-Glacial Sea Level.png|thumb|Earth's sea level rose dramatically in the millennia after the Last Glacial Maximum. Cf. [[Flood myth#Mesopotamia|Mesopotamian flood myths]].<ref name=zenodo>{{cite journal |title= New Light on Human Prehistory in the Arabo-Persian Gulf Oasis |first=Jeffrey I. |last=Rose |journal=Current Anthropology |volume= 51 |issue=6 |doi=10.1086/657397 |date=December 2010 |pages=849–883 |s2cid=144935980 |url= https://zenodo.org/record/896327 }}</ref>|300x300px]] 
''A few lines are missing here again, but these can be added according to the Epic of Gilgamesh: After the ark is stranded high up on Mount Nisir, Uta-napišti (the name of Atraḫasis in the Epic of Gilgamesh) sends out three birds - presumably at daily intervals: a dove, a swallow and a raven. The raven, the least able to fly, didn't return, so Utanpištim knew that the land – probably still hidden from his view under thick clouds – was accessible again.''

Atraḫasis descended from his ark and began to offer a food sacrifice to all the gods indiscriminately with a zeal eager to serve. How happy the gods were who had been starving for so long! As if they were flies lured by the scent, they swarmed in from all sides to the altar's fire and began to feast to their hearts'  – for which they later endowed Anthrahais-Noah with their immortality in gratitude and settled him with his wife on the island of [[Dilmun]] on the distant edge of the world (see [[Gilgamesh flood myth]]).

Enlil, however, who as a wise ruler was responsible for the welfare of this great civilisation, was still furious with Enki, the culprit whose treachery had once again enabled some humans to survive the genocide what was planned this time. Enki, however, as always never at a loss for creative ideas, devised a way that he hoped would finally solve the problem caused by the quarrelling gods themselves. He decreed that from now on the humans would be familiarised with suffering and death from birth, that there would be barren and untouchable women and that their lifespan would be severely limited from the outset (in biblical terms to 120 years),<ref>{{cite web |last1=www.die-bibel.de |title=Sons of God and daughters of men |url=https://www.bibleserver.com/LUT/1.Mose6 |access-date=11 October 2024 |website=Bibelserver |quote=In those days, when man began to multiply in the face of the ground, the sons of God saw how beautiful the daughters of men were and took wives for themselves as they wished. Then the LORD said, ‘My spirit shall not dwell in man forever (...). I will give him a lifetime of 120 years. At that time and also later, when the sons of God went in to the daughters of men and they bore them children, they became the giants of the earth. These are the heroes of ancient times, the most famous}}</ref><ref group="lower-roman">In the epic Gilgamesh, however, the famous hero's mother is a goddess and his father just a human (a priest). Nevertheless, the two thirds of humanity that Gilgamesh retains from this pairing are the reason for his mortality (narrowly limited lifespan) and his unsuccessful quest for divine immortality.</ref> in the hope that their reproduction would be regulated in future. With this promise that the gods would have sufficient living space of their own on earth for all time, Enlil could be content and make peace with Enki.<ref>{{cite book |last1=von Soden |first1=Wolfram |title=Der altbabylonische Atramḫasis-Mythos |date=1990 |location=Gütersloh |pages=612ff}}</ref>

==Alterations and adaptations==
===Lineage of Atra-Hasis===
In later versions of the flood story, contained in the ''[[Epic of Gilgamesh]]'' and the [[Eridu Genesis]], the hero is not named Atra-Hasis.

In ''Gilgamesh'', the name of the flood hero is [[Utnapishtim]], who is said to be the son of [[Ubara-Tutu]], king of [[Shuruppak]]: "Gilgamesh spoke to Utnapishtim, the Faraway... O man of Shuruppak, son of Ubara-Tutu."<ref>Kovacs, Maureen Gallery, trans. 1998. "[http://www.ancienttexts.org/library/mesopotamian/gilgamesh/tab11.htm The Story of the Flood]." ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' XI (electronic ed.), edited by W. Carnahan. Academy of Ancient Texts.</ref> Many available tablets comprising the [[Sumerian King List|''Sumerian King Lists'']] support the lineage of the flood hero given in ''Gilgamesh'' by omitting a king named Shuruppak as a historical ruler of Shuruppak, implying a belief that the flood story took place after or during the rule of Ubara-Tutu.

In the Epic of Gilgamesh, first recorded in the 17th century BC (i.e., the [[First Babylonian dynasty|Old Babylonian Empire]]), the hero is named [[Ziusudra]], who also appears in the ''[[Instructions of Shuruppak]]'' as the son of the eponymous Shuruppak, who himself is called the son of Ubara-Tutu.<ref>Zólyomi, Gábor, trans. 2003 [1999]. "[http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text=t.5.6.1# The instructions of Šuruppag]." ''[[Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature|The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature]]'' (2nd ed.), edited by G. Zólyomi, [[Jeremy Black (historian)|J. A. Black]], [[Eleanor Robson|E. Robson]], and G. Cunningham. London: [[Faculty of Oriental Studies]], [[University of Oxford]]. Retrieved 15 May 2020.</ref>

The "Sumerian King Lists" also make no mention of Atra-Hasis, Utnapishtim, or Ziusudra.<ref name="Sumerian king">Zólyomi, Gábor, trans. 2001 [1999]. "[https://web.archive.org/web/20110716162233/http://www-etcsl.orient.ox.ac.uk/section2/tr211.htm The Sumerian king list: translation]." ''[[Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature|The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature]]'' (2nd ed.), edited by G. Zólyomi, [[Jeremy Black (historian)|J. A. Black]], G. Cunningham, and [[Eleanor Robson|E. Robson]]. London: [[Faculty of Oriental Studies]], [[University of Oxford]]. Archived from the [http://www-etcsl.orient.ox.ac.uk/section2/tr211.htm original] on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 15 May 2020.</ref> Tablet "WB 62", however, provides a different chronology: Atra-Hasis is listed as a ruler of Shuruppak and a "gudug" priest, preceded by his father Shuruppak, who is, in turn, preceded by his father Ubara-Tutu, as in "The Instructions of Shuruppak".<ref name="Sumerian king" /> This tablet is unique in that it mentions both Shuruppak and Atra-Hasis.

=== Gilgamesh and the flood myth ===
Subsequent versions of the flood myth in the [[Ancient Near East]] evidently alter (omit and/or editorially change) information about the flood and the flood hero found in the original ''Atra-Hasis'' story.<ref name="Gilgamesh">[[Andrew R. George|George, Andrew R.]], trans. 2003 [1999]. ''The Epic of Gilgamesh'' (reprint and corrected ed.), edited by A. R. George. London: [[Penguin Books]]. {{ISBN|0-14-044919-1}}.</ref>{{Rp|xxx}} In particular, a lost, intermediate version of the ''Atra-Hasis'' flood myth seems to have been paraphrased or copied in a late edition of the ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' ([[Gilgamesh flood myth|Tablet XI]]).<ref name="Gilgamesh Epic">[[Jeffrey H. Tigay|Tigay, Jeffrey H.]] 1982. ''The Evolution of the Gilgamesh Epic''. Philadelphia: [[University of Pennsylvania Press]]. {{ISBN|0-8122-7805-4}}. pp. 238–39.</ref> This modern addition of ''Gilgamesh'', known as the 'standard version', is traditionally associated with the [[Babylonia]]n [[scribe]] [[Sîn-lēqi-unninni]] (''circa ''1300–1000 BC), though some minor changes may have been made since his time.<ref name="Gilgamesh" />{{Rp|xxiv–xxv}}

Regarding the editorial changes to the ''Atra-Hasis'' text in ''Gilgamesh'', [[Jeffrey H. 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. These lines share a common theme, the hunger and thirst of the gods during the flood."<ref name="Gilgamesh Epic" />

==== Alterations ====
Examples of alterations to the ''Atra-Hasis'' story in ''Gilgamesh'' include:

* Omitting information, for example:
** The hero being at a banquet when the storm and flood begins: "He invited his people...to a banquet... He sent his family on board. They ate and they drank. But he [Atrahasis] was in and out. He could not sit, could not crouch, for his heart was broken and he was vomiting gall."<ref>''Atra-Hasis'' III, ii.40–47.</ref>
** "She was surfeited with grief and thirsted for beer."<ref name="Atra-Hasis">''Atra-Hasis'' III.iv.</ref>
** "From hunger they were suffering cramps."<ref name="Atra-Hasis" />
* Editorial changes, for example:
** "Like dragonflies they have filled the river"<ref>''Atra-Hasis'' III.iv 6–7.</ref> was changed to "Like the spawn of fishes, they fill the sea."<ref>''The Epic of Gilgamesh'' XI 123.</ref> 
* Weakening of [[Anthropomorphism|anthropomorphic]] descriptions of the gods, for example:
** "The [[Anunnaki]] (the senior gods) [were sitt]ing in thirst and hunger"<ref>''Atra-Hasis'' III 30–31.</ref> changed to "The gods feared the deluge."<ref>''The Epic of Gilgamesh'' XI 113.</ref>

==See also==
{{div col|colwidth=30em}} 
*[[Alan Millard]]
*[[Babylonian and Assyrian religion]]
*[[Eridu Genesis]]
*[[Flood myth]]
*[[Gilgamesh flood myth]]
*[[Noah's Ark]]
{{div col end}}

==References==

=== Notes ===
{{Reflist|35em|group=lower-roman}}

=== Citations ===
{{Reflist|2}}

===Further reading===
*Laessoe, Q. 1956. “The Atrahasis Epic: A Babylonian History of Mankind.” ''Bibliotheca Orientalis'' 13:90–102. {{ISSN|0006-1913}}
*Wasserman, Nathan. 2020. ''The Flood: The Akkadian Sources: A New Edition, Commentary, and a Literary Discussion''. [[Peeters Publishers|Peeters]]. {{ISBN|9-0429417-4-X}}.

==External links==
* [https://www.livius.org/sources/content/anet/104-106-the-epic-of-atrahasis/  English text of ''The Epic of Atraḥasis'']

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[[Category:18th-century BC literature]]
[[Category:Akkadian literature]]
[[Category:Flood myths]]
[[Category:Mesopotamian myths]]
[[Category:Shuruppak]]
[[Category:Epic of Gilgamesh]]
[[Category:Creation myths]]
[[Category:Epic poems]]
[[Category:Library of Ashurbanipal]]
[[Category:Ancient Near Eastern cosmology]]