View source for Ziusudra

{{Short description|King of Shuruppak (c. 2900 BC)}}
{{Contains special characters|cuneiform}}
{{use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox character
| name = Ziusudra<br>{{nobold|{{cuneiform|𒍣𒌓𒋤𒁺}}}}
| first = [[Sumerian King List]]<br>{{circa|2000 BC}}
| occupation = [[King]] ({{circa|2900 BC}})
| family = [[Ubara-Tutu]] (father)
}}
[[File:Sumerian King List, 1800 BC, Larsa, Iraq (detail).jpg|thumb|Sumerian King List, 1800 BC, Larsa, Iraq]]
'''Ziusudra''' ({{langx|akk-x-oldbabyl|{{cuneiform|8|𒍣𒌓𒋤𒁺}}|translit=Ṣíusudrá}} [ṣi₂-u₄-sud-ra₂], {{langx|akk-x-neoassyr|{{cuneiform|11|𒍣𒋤𒁕}}|translit=Ṣísudda}},{{sfn|Oracc}} {{langx|grc|Ξίσουθρος|translit=Xísouthros}}) of [[Shuruppak]] is listed in the WB-62 [[Sumerian King List]] recension as the last king of [[Sumer]] prior to the [[Great Flood]]. He is subsequently recorded as the hero of the [[Eridu Genesis]] and appears in the writings of [[Berossus]] as Xisuthros.{{citation needed|date=June 2019}}

Ziusudra is one of several mythic characters who are protagonists of [[Near East]]ern flood myths, including [[Atrahasis]], [[Utnapishtim]], and the biblical [[Noah]]. Although each story displays its own distinctive features, many key story elements are common to two, three, or all four versions.{{Citation needed|date=June 2019}}

==Literary and archaeological evidence==
===King Ziusudra of Shuruppak===
{{Main|Sumerian king list}}
In the WB-62 [[Sumerian king list]] recension, Ziusudra, or Zin-Suddu of [[Shuruppak]], is listed as son of the last king of Sumer before a great flood.{{sfn|Jacobsen|1939|pp=75 and 76; footnotes 32 and 34}} He is recorded as having reigned as both king and ''gudug'' priest for ten ''sars'' (periods of 3,600 years),{{sfn|Langdon|1923|pp=251–259}} although this figure is probably a [[scribal error|copyist error]] for ten years.{{sfn|Best|1999|pp=118–119}} In this version, Ziusudra inherited rulership from his father [[Ubara-Tutu]],{{sfn|Tablet XI, line 23}} who ruled for ten ''sars''.{{sfn|Langdon|1923|p=258, note 5}}

The lines following the mention of Ziusudra read:

{{Quote|Then the flood swept over. After the flood had swept over, and the kingship had descended from heaven, the kingship was in Kish.{{sfn|ETCSL: Sumerian king list|n.d.}}}}

The city of [[Kish (Sumer)|Kish]] flourished in the [[Early Dynastic Period (Mesopotamia)|Early Dynastic period]] soon after a river flood archaeologically attested by sedimentary strata at Shuruppak (modern [[Shuruppak|Tell Fara]]), Uruk, Kish, and other sites, all of which have been [[radiocarbon dating|radiocarbon dated]] to ca. 2900&nbsp;BC.{{sfn|Crawford|1991|p=19}} [[Polychrome]] pottery from the [[Jemdet Nasr period]] (ca. 30th century BC), which immediately preceded the Early Dynastic I period, was discovered directly below the Shuruppak flood stratum.{{sfn|Crawford|1991|p=19}}{{sfn|Schmidt|1931|pp=193–217}} [[Max Mallowan]] wrote that "we know from the Weld Blundell prism [i.e. WB-62] that at the time of the Flood, Ziusudra, the Sumerian Noah, was King of the city of Shuruppak where he received warning of the impending disaster. His role as a saviour agrees with that assigned to his counterpart Utnapishtim in the Gilgamesh Epic. ... both epigraphical and archaeological discovery give good grounds for believing that Ziusudra was a prehistoric ruler of a well-known historic city the site of which has been identified."{{sfn|Mallowan|1964|pp=62–82}}

That Ziusudra was a king from Shuruppak is supported by the Gilgamesh XI tablet, which makes reference to Utnapishtim (the [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]] translation of the Sumerian name Ziusudra) with the epithet "man of Shuruppak" at line 23.{{sfn|Tablet XI, line 23|p=110}}

===Sumerian flood myth===
{{main|Eridu Genesis}}
The tale of Ziusudra is known from a single fragmentary tablet written in Sumerian, datable by its script to the 17th century BC ([[Old Babylonian Empire]]), and published in 1914 by Arno Poebel.{{sfn|Lambert|Millard|1999|p=138}} The first part deals with the creation of man and the animals and the founding of the first cities [[Eridu]], [[Bad-tibira]], [[Larak (Sumer)|Larak]], [[Sippar]], and [[Shuruppak]]. After a missing section in the tablet, we learn that the gods have decided to send a flood to destroy mankind. The god [[Enki]] (lord of the underworld sea of fresh water and Sumerian equivalent of Babylonian god Ea) warns Ziusudra, the ruler of Shuruppak, to build a large boat; the passage describing the directions for the boat is also lost. When the tablet resumes, it is describing the flood. A terrible storm raged for seven days, "the huge boat had been tossed about on the great waters," then [[Utu]] (Sun) appears and Ziusudra opens a window, prostrates himself, and sacrifices an ox and a sheep. After another break, the text resumes, the flood is apparently over, and Ziusudra is prostrating himself before [[An (mythology)|An]] (Sky) and [[Enlil]] (Lordbreath), who give him "breath eternal" and take him to dwell in [[Dilmun]]. The remainder of the poem is lost.{{sfn|Kramer|1961}}{{failed verification|date=May 2018}}

The Epic of Ziusudra adds an element at lines 258–261 not found in other versions, that after the flood{{sfn|Lambert|Millard|1999|p=97}} "king Ziusudra ... they caused to dwell in the ''KUR'' [[Dilmun]], the place where the sun rises". The Sumerian word "KUR" is an ambiguous word. Samuel Noah Kramer states that "its primary meanings is 'mountain' is attested by the fact that the sign used for it is actually a pictograph representing a mountain. From the meaning 'mountain' developed that of 'foreign land', since the mountainous countries bordering Sumer were a constant menace to its people. Kur also came to mean 'land' in general".{{sfn|Kramer|1961}} The last sentence can be translated as "In the mountain of crossing, the mountain of Dilmun, the place where the sun rises".{{sfn|Kramer|1961}}

A Sumerian document known as the ''[[Instructions of Shuruppak]]'' dated by Kramer to about 2600&nbsp;BC, refers in a later version to Ziusudra. Kramer stated "Ziusudra had become a venerable figure in literary tradition by the middle of the third millennium B.C."{{sfn|Kramer|1967|p=16, col.2}}

===Xisuthros===
''Xisuthros'' (Ξίσουθρος) is a [[Hellenization]] of the Sumerian Ziusudra, known from the writings of [[Berossus]], a priest of [[Bel (mythology)|Bel]] in Babylon, on whom [[Alexander Polyhistor]] relied heavily for information on Mesopotamia. Among the interesting features of this version of the flood myth, are the identification, through ''[[interpretatio graeca]]'', of the Sumerian god [[Enki]] with the Greek god [[Cronus]], the father of [[Zeus]]; and the assertion that the [[reed boat]] constructed by Xisuthros survived, at least until Berossus' day, in the "Corcyrean Mountains" of [[Armenia]]. Xisuthros was listed as a king, the son of one Ardates, and to have reigned 18 ''saroi''. One saros (''shar'' in Akkadian) stands for 3,600 and hence 18 ''saroi'' was translated as 64,800 years.
A saroi or saros is an astrological term defined as 222 lunar months of 29.5 days or 18.5 lunar years equal to 17.93 solar years.{{cn|date=November 2025}}

===Other sources===
Ziusudra is also mentioned in other ancient literature, including ''The Death of Gilgamesh''{{sfn|ETCSL: t.1.8.1.3}} and ''The Poem of Early Rulers'',{{sfn|ETCSL: t.5.2.5}} and a late version of ''[[Instructions of Shuruppak|The Instructions of Shuruppak]]''.{{sfn|ETCSL: t.5.6.1}}

==See also==
* [[History of Sumer]]

==Notes==
<!-- See [[Wikipedia:Footnotes]] for instructions. -->
{{Reflist|20em}}

==Sources==
{{refbegin|35em}}
*{{citation| title = Noah's Ark and the Ziusudra Epic
 | last = Best | first = R. M. | year = 1999
 | publisher = Eisenbrauns
 | isbn = 0-9667840-1-4
}}
*{{citation| title = Sumer and the Sumerians
 | last = Crawford | first = Harriet | author-link=Harriet Crawford |year = 1991
 | publisher = [[Cambridge University Press]]
 | isbn = 978-052138175-8
}}
*{{citation| title = Myths from Mesopotamia
 | last = Dalley | first = Stephanie | year = 2008
 | page = 110
 | ref = {{harvid|Tablet XI, line 23}}
}}
*{{citation| title = ETCSLtranslation: t.1.8.1.3 The death of Gilgameš
 | website = The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature
 | publisher = Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Oxford
 | year = 2006
 | url = http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text=t.1.8.1.3
 | ref = {{harvid|ETCSL: t.1.8.1.3}}
}}
*{{citation| title = ETCSLtranslation: t.5.2.5 The poem of early rulers
 | website = The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature
 | publisher = Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Oxford
 | year = 2006
 | url = http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text=t.5.2.5
 | ref = {{harvid|ETCSL: t.5.2.5}}
}}
*{{citation| title = ETCSLtranslation: t.5.6.1 The instructions of Šuruppag
 | website = The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature
 | publisher = Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Oxford
 | year = 2006
 | url = http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text=t.5.6.1
 | ref = {{harvid|ETCSL: t.5.6.1}}
}}
*{{citation| title = The Sumerian King List
 | last = Jacobsen | first = Thorkild | year = 1939
 | author-link = Thorkild Jacobsen
 | pages = 75 and 76; footnotes 32 and 34
 | publisher = University of Chicago Press
}}
*{{citation| title = Sumerian Mythology: Miscellaneous Myths
 | last = Kramer | first = Samuel Noah | year = 1961
 | website = Internet Sacred Text Archive
 | publisher = University of Pennsylvania Press
 | url = http://www.sacred-texts.com/ane/sum/sum09.htm
}}
*{{citation
 | title = Reflections on the Mesopotamian Flood
 | last = Kramer
 | first = Samuel Noah
 | year = 1967
 | magazine = Expedition Magazine
 | volume = 9
 | issue = 4
 | publisher = Penn Museum
 | at = p.16, col.2
 | url = https://www.penn.museum/documents/publications/expedition/PDFs/9-4/Reflections.pdf
 | access-date = 28 May 2018
 | archive-date = 19 June 2021
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210619071900/https://www.penn.museum/documents/publications/expedition/PDFs/9-4/Reflections.pdf
 | url-status = dead
 }}
*{{citation| title = Atrahasis: The Babylonian Story of the Flood
 | last1 = Lambert | first1 = W. G.
 | last2 = Millard | first2 = A. R.
 | author1-link = Wilfred G. Lambert
 | author2-link = Alan Millard
 | year = 1999
 | publisher = Eisenbrauns
 | isbn = 1-57506-039-6
}}
*{{citation| title = The Chaldean Kings Before the Flood
 | last = Langdon | first = S. | year = 1923
 | journal = Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society
}}
*{{citation| title = Noah's Flood Reconsidered
 | last = Mallowan | first = M.E.L. | year = 1964
 | journal = Iraq
 | volume = 26 | issue = 2 | pages = 62–82
 | doi = 10.2307/4199766 | jstor = 4199766
| s2cid = 128633634 }}
*{{citation| title = Excavations at Fara
 | last = Schmidt | first = Erik | year = 1931
 | journal = The Museum Journal | via = [[Internet Archive]]
 | volume = 22 | issue = 2 | pages = 193–217
 | url = https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.530864
}}
*{{citation| title = The Sumerian king list: translation
 | website = The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature
 | publisher = Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Oxford
 | url = http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/section2/tr211.htm | url-status = live
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080508061030/http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/section2/tr211.htm
 | date = n.d. | archive-date = 8 May 2008
 | ref = {{harvid|ETCSL: Sumerian king list|n.d.}}
}}
*{{citation| title = Ziusudra
 | website = Oracc: The Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus
 | url = http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/epsd2/cbd/sux/o0048582.html
 | ref = {{harvid|Oracc}}
}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060829004437/http://www.noahs-ark-flood.com/parallels.htm A comparison of equivalent lines in six ancient versions of the flood story]
* [https://www.livius.org/articles/misc/great-flood Ancient Near East flood myths] All texts: ([https://www.livius.org/articles/misc/great-flood/flood2-t Eridu Genesis], [https://www.livius.org/articles/misc/great-flood/flood3_t-arahasis Atrahasis], [https://www.livius.org/articles/misc/great-flood/flood3_t-gilgamesh Gilgamesh], [https://www.livius.org/articles/misc/great-flood/flood1-t-bible_1 Bible], [https://www.livius.org/articles/misc/great-flood/flood3_t-berossus Berossus], [https://www.livius.org/articles/misc/great-flood/flood4_t-ovid Greece], [https://www.livius.org/articles/misc/great-flood/flood1-t-quran Quran]), commentary, and a [https://www.livius.org/articles/misc/great-flood/flood6-parallels table with parallels]
* [http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text=t.1.7.4# ETCSL – Text and translation of the Sumerian flood story] ([https://web.archive.org/web/20110130213932/http://www-etcsl.orient.ox.ac.uk/section1/tr174.htm alternate site])

{{s-start}}
{{s-bef
| rows = 2
| before = [[Ubara-Tutu]] of [[Shuruppak]]
}}
{{s-ttl
| title = [[King of Sumer]]
| years = legendary, c. 2900 BC
}}
{{s-aft
| after = [[Jushur]] of [[Kish (Sumer)|Kish]]
}}
{{s-ttl
| title = [[Ensí|Ensi]] of [[Shuruppak]]
| years = legendary, c. 2900 BC
}}
{{s-non
| reason = City flooded according to legend
}}
{{s-end}}

{{Sumerian King List}}
{{Ancient Near East}}
{{Sumerian mythology}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ziusudra}}
[[Category:Characters in Mesopotamian mythology]]
[[Category:Epic of Gilgamesh]]
[[Category:Flood myths]]
[[Category:Shuruppak]]
[[Category:Sumerian kings]]
[[Category:Heroes in mythology and legend]]