In the tale of Gilgamesh in the Standard Version (Middle Babylonian), it is Tablet 11 that recounts the legend of the Flood, from the perspective of the Flood hero, Uta-napishti. Uta-napishti lived far to the east, beyond the edge of the world. Uta-napishti narrated to the hero Gilgamesh of how he gained immortality from the gods.
Gilgamesh came to Uta-napishti hoping to gain immortality after the death of his friend, Enkidu, because the unusually fearless hero now feared death.
It was at Shuruppak, on the bank of Euphrates that the gods met to discuss the destruction of mankind, by sending a great deluge. In the meeting was Anu (An), his counsellor Ellil (Enlil), his chamberlain Ninurta and Ennugi his sheriff. Also there was Ea (Enki), the god of wisdom. They all swore oaths in regarding to the Deluge.
But Ea instructed a man from Shuruppak to demolished his house and build a boat. The boat should be equal in all dimensions, and the boat shall have a roof for shelter. The man should abandon his wealth, and seek to survive the coming destruction. He was to take with him "all living things' seed".
This man was the son of Ubar-Tutu. He obeyed all of his god's instructions, except that he feared what the crowd and elders of his city may say about the construction of this large boat. Ea instructed Uta-napishti to say to the elders that he no longer wish to live on the ground of Ellil, so he decided to leave and live in the Ocean Below with his master Ea. Ea would send rain to carry his boat to the Ocean Below.
Uta-napishti goes on to relate how the boat was constructed, covering an area of an acre and ten rods in height at the sides. The boat would have six decks, each deck divided into nine compartments.
By the time he finished, he gathered his possessions and loaded them on aboard – gold and silver, and all the animals, from the fields and from the wild. He had also stored food for his people and the animals. Uta-napishti then gathered his kinsmen and people that were skilled in different crafts, and boarded the boat. The he had his shipwright, Puzur-Enlil, to close the hatch.
Not long afterward, the god Adad brought storm, unlike any other. Other gods help to cause gales to blow, flood the rivers, and water to overflow the weirs. Before the population realise the dangers and destructions they were facing, it was too late. Countless people drowned, as water covered the land.
Even the gods, who took part in the destruction of mankind, were frightened and fled to the heaven of Anu. The great goddess Belet-ili, the mother of the gods, wept over the people she helped to create. The people in the water were turned into clay. Other greater gods (Anunnaki) wept too.
For six days and seven nights, gales continued to blow and rain continued to fall from the sky. The Deluge ended on the seven days.
The boat ran aground on the mountain of Nimush. The boat lay to rest on Nimush for seven days, before Uta-napishti let out a dove. The bird returned to Uta-napishti's boat after a day of flying, because it could find no land to rest.
The next day, he let out a swallow, but it also returned, when it found no rest. The following day, he released another bird, a raven, but this time, it didn't return, after finding food.
Realising that his confinement on the boat would come to an end, he got off the boat, to make an offering to the gods. Uta-napishti offer sacrifice and burned incense on the mountain top.
The sweet smell of incense – reed, cedar and myrtle – brought the gods to Nimush, like flies around food. The mother goddess Belet-ili was among those who came to the incense, telling the other gods that they should remember these days. She was however angry with Ellil, saying that he brought the Deluge and destroyed mankind that she helped to create – he alone should not come to the sacrifice at Nimush.
But Ellil did come to Nimush; he was furious to see a large boat on the peak of the mountain. This means that there are still human survivors from the Deluge.
Ellil demanded to know who was responsible for man's survival. Ninurta replied, who else but Ea would save any human.
When Ellil confronted Ea, the god of wisdom responded that he (Ellil) was wrong to destroy mankind without counsel (this is the same accusation that Belet-ili had against Ellil). Ea also said to the angry god that it was not he who save this human (Uta-napishti), but rather that Uta-napishti saw this would happen in a vision and took action to save himself and his family.
Ellil took Uta-napishti back to the boat, and make him and his wife kneeled before him. Instead of punishing them, he bestowed immortality upon Uta-napishti and his wife, so that they would become gods like them.
Ellil would then spirit the newly immortal couple to the edge of the world, far to the east.
Uta-napishti would not receive any mortal company until the arrival of the hero and king, Gilgamesh of Uruk, some thousand of years later.
See Gilgamesh for the rest of his tale.
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