This fragmented Sumerian clay tablet was generally known as the Eridu Genesis, was found in Nippur. It was one of the earliest about Creation. The tale about the Flood is similar to that found in Atrahasis and in Tablet XI of Gilgamesh epic, except that the Flood hero was called Ziusudra, a Sumerian name for Atrahasis or Uta-napishti.

Some parts of this poem are missing due to fragmentations or lacuna, as most tablets are.

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Previously, before there were men in this world, there were two groups of gods – the Anunnaki and the Igigi. The Anunnaki were the greater gods and the Igigi had lower status. The Igigi were had to work, physically hard labours under the hot sun, such as digging the canals. When the Igigi complained the labours were too hard and were in a rebellious mood, the Anunnaki had to come up with a solution to their problems.

It was decided that they would create primeval race of human beings to substitute the Igigi as the workers. Four great gods were responsible for creating man – An, Enlil, Enki and Ninhursaga (otherwise known as the goddess Nintu or Belet-ili). As well creating man, they also were responsible for producing all sorts of animals from the ground.

Man would dig canals, construct irrigations and cities. They would also build temples for each god in the cities, so that the gods rest in the shade.

It was from heaven (the gods) that gave each city a king to rule over the people. Each city would have a least one patron deity and a temple. It was Ninhursaga who assign a god to a city. Nudimmud (Enki) was given Eridu. In Bad-Tibira, belonged to the prince and sacred one; I am uncertain if the poem referred to Enlil or Dumuzi. The third, Larak, she gave to Pabilsag (Ninurta?). Utu received Sippar, the fourth, and Ansud, goddess of grain, received Shuruppak.

Missing from this text is the reason for the deluge, but it is generally believed that the cause was the same in the Akkadian/Babylonian tale of Atrahasis. Apparently, Enlil was angry over the noise men made when they talk or work.

The goddesses Ninhursaga and Inanna were upset over Enlil's plan to destroy mankind and their cities. However, Enki kept his own counsel over the matter. Secretly, he disclosed the secret of the gods to his favourite, Ziusudra.

Ziusudra was more than just a king; he was also a priest and prophet of his god Enki, god of water and of wisdom. Ziusudra enjoyed friendship with his god, and Enki wanted to save Ziusudra and his family.

Enki told his favourite to pull down his house, and used the materials to construct a boat with decked quarters and roof. Detail about the construction as well as taking animals on board of the vessel are missing.

Winds and rains caused havoc and destruction of farm and cities. Everyone drowned, except Ziusudra and his family on board of their vessel. For seven days and seven nights, torrential rain fell from the dark storm clouds, water continued to rise, overflowing the rivers, canals and seas, covering the earth with water.

After the seventh day, the rain stopped and sun broke through the clouds. Ziusudra bore a hole through the thick wood so that the sun could shine through. Ziusudra kissed the floor of the deck, and then slaughtered one of the oxen, sacrificing to Utu, the god of the sun. He made other offering, and used juniper to burn sweet smelling incense to Utu.

Again, there are missing passages concerning how Ziusudra had disembarked with his family and the animals that were on board the vessels, he made offering to the gods, which they gathered around like flies to food. How Enlil was furious because he discovered survivors of the flood. And how Enki rebuked Enlil for destroying the people on a selfish whim.

An and Enlil stood before the survivors. Ziusudra humbly kneeled down in front of the two gods and kissed the ground before their feet. Instead of killing the king, Enlil bestowed immortality upon Ziusudra (and according to Gilgamesh, upon Ziusudra's wife), so that they became minor deities. So the seed of mankind was preserved.

After this, Ziusudra and his wife lived east of Mount Dilmun.

The Atrahasis was the myth of the creation of mankind and the hero Atrahasis, the survivor of the Flood. The date of this myth cannot be determined, but there are two versions – the Old Babylonian tablets and the Standard Babylonian version. My source come a book that used both version to reconstruct the myth of Atrahasis.

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Before the gods created mankind, the gods have to do all the physically demanding works. The higher, powerful gods, known as Anunnaki made the Igigi, another group of gods, to work and carry heaving loads.

Anu (An) was the king of all the gods, and the god of heaven. His son, Ellil (Enlil) was his counsellor and champion, ruled the Igigi, and it was he who made these lesser gods to labour under the hot sun. These Igigi were actually his sons.

The Igigi began complaining among themselves about their works have becoming harder, especially when they are digging canals for the Anunnaki, and if they don't stop or rest, they would eventually die from exhaustion. So the Igigi abandoned their works, after working for 3600 years.

The god Alla advised the other Igigi that they should confront Ellil and tell them they would work no more. They took their tools, to be used as weapons, and that night they surrounded Ellil's house – the Ekur.

Kalkal warned Nusku, Ellil's adviser, about the people who surrounded Ellil's home. Ellil immediately had his gate barred, and have himself and his servants armed before he would the Igigi, his sons. Seeing fear in Ellil's face, Nusku advised his master that he should seek the counsels from Anu and Ea (Enki).

Anu and Ea arrived in Ekur, and his father advised him to send Nusku out to find out why they besieged the house of Ellil. Nusku found out from the Igigi that they refused to do anymore harsh labours, and if the Anunnaki persisted the Igigi would fight them in battle.

Ellil was upset with the Igigi's demand, would have destroy the rebels, but Ea sympathising with the rebellious Igigi told Anu and Ellil that their labours was indeed excessive, and that they shouldn't be punished. Ea advised them that it would be best to create men to do all the works – to bear the load of the gods.

Anu and Ellil agreed to Ea's plan, so they called upon Belet-ili, the womb goddess, to help Ea to create the primeval man.

Belet-ili was the mother goddess, and mother of many gods, she was known by many names. In this tale, she was also called Mami, midwife of the gods, but as the creator of mankind, she was known as Nintu.

To create the primeval man, Ea said that they need to slaughter one of the gods – while Nintu mould man out of clay; they would use the blood of the dead god to mix with the clay.

So they slaughtered Ilawela, the god of intelligence. The ghost of Ilawela appeared, and Nintu (Belet-ili) proclaimed that they should not forget the sacrifice of the slain god. Nintu took up 14 pieces of clay, which the Igigi spat on, and mixing the clay with the blood of the slain god, she fashioned seven male figures and seven female figures.

When it was completed, it was she who made the rules of mankind. While the men work in the fields, women would take care of the house and have babies, so new generation of men could work on behalf the gods.

All the gods, the Anunnaki and the Igigi, bowed down to Mami (Belet-ili) and kissed her feet, because it was she who created mankind to take up the burdens of the Igigi. They had always called her Mami, but now the gods were giving her a new name – Ninhursag – and she was appointed as the Mistress of All Gods.

So men took over the work of the Igigi, of digging out canals or building cities.

Six centuries had passed. The race of men became more numerous, populating the country far and wide.

But Ellil was now becoming concern, because there were now too many people in the country. He was becoming distressed and angry over the noise levels, their constant chatting and working, causing him to lose many nights of sleep.

So Ellil decided to send out epidemic of suruppu-disease, to wipe them out mankind. There are some missing lines, but for the first time, Atrahasis was introduced into the myth.

Atrahasis was the wisest of mortal men, a favourite of the god Ea (Enki). They shared a special relationship. Atrahasis seeing the suffering of his fellow-men, called upon Ea to save the people he helped to create.

Ea advised him that the elders should instruct the people to stop praying to the gods and goddesses, but making offering to Namtara (Namtar), the god of fate, and build a temple to the underworld god.

When the people followed Ea's instruction, they revered no other gods, but Namtar, offering their breads at Namtara's new temple. Namtara seeing the offerings of these people were making to him, he felt ashamed, so he ended the outbreak of suruppu-disease.

With the plague ended, the people returned to worshipping all the deities. They also returned to their work.

After another 600 years, the people were flourishing again, so Ellil was losing sleep again over the rackets which men make. So he called upon the other gods to help him destroy mankind. Ellil called upon Adad to cause drought throughout the country.

Atrahasis seeing the suffering of the people again, called upon Ea for aid. This time Ea advised them to pray and offer their breads to no other gods but Adad.

Seeing these offerings, Adad felt ashamed for causing the suffering of men, so the storm god ended the drought, by bringing rain, so that vegetation and crops would be grown again. The survivors of the drought returned to worshipping all the gods.

Again, more epochs passed, the population grew throughout the country, so that Ellil was losing sleep again, because of the noisy human. Ellil organised another assembly of the gods. Ellil commanded that Anu and Adad would keep the air above the earth locked; while Sin (Nanna) and Nergal would keep the middle earth locked. And Ea and his Lahmu would keep the bolt that barred the sea locked.

This caused the flood water to not flow from the springs, and the rain did not fill the canals, so the crops couldn't receive water from the irrigation. This resulted in the salination of the soil, so no vegetation can be grown. Two years later, the foods stored in storehouses were depleted. Mankind were facing starvation.

Atrahasis seeing the problems and suffering of the people, once again made offering to his god Ea, who heard his prayers in the dream.

Neither Ea's answer to Atrahasis' prayers nor how the crisis was resolved because of large gap in the text.

Another 600 years passed, and again Ellil was determined to end overpopulation of mankind, because of the noises they made. Again, plagues of various diseases were inflicted upon the people. But seeing no result, Ellil made further demands, so there was also drought and famine.

So that widespread famine caused people to die from starvation. Such was the desperation of the people that the parents resorted to killing and eating their children.

Again, Atrahasis and his god Ea helped save the survivors, but we don't know how, because of some more gaps in the text.

From here, the myth almost parallel with that written about Uta-napishti in Tablet XI of Gilgamesh.

Finally, Ellil was angry that all his effort in getting rid of mankind was working through diseases, drought and famine. So he called upon the assembly of gods, where he told them that he had decided to destroy them by a great deluge of water. He was hoping that the flood would not leave a single human alive.

Ellil called upon Ea to help him rid of mankind, but Ea was very reluctant to destroy mankind which he had helped to create.

Before the flood arrived, Ea came to Atrahasis' dream and gave him instruction that would save him and his family. Following his master's instruction, Atrahasis dismantle his house, so that he could use the material to construct a large boat. He would only take with him animals, tamed and wild, on board the boat, with his family and some craftsmen, who had helped him to construct the vessel.

There was no way that he could hide what he was doing from other people, so Atrahasis informed the elders of his city that he was leaving, since Ellil doesn't like him, and this would boat would take him to Apsu, so that he would live in the domain of his master, the god Ea.

By the time everything was completed, and the animals and his family were safely aboard the boat, he had the door seal, when he saw the great storm approaching.

Adad, god of the storm, brought the clouds, winds and rain. A flood weapon was used to help devastate properties and crops. The kasusu-weapon was also used against the people. No one survived, except those sheltered on board of Atrahasis' boat, as the water rose and covered the land. The torrent and flood continued for seven days, so there was no escape for mankind, as they all drowned.

The goddess Nintu (Belet-ili) watched and wept for the destruction of her people. She was overcome with grief for mankind, but she was also furious with Ellil.

Quite a fair bit of the text is missing (there's a gap of 58 lines). Then, it continued with that after the flood had began to recede, Atrahasis came out of the boat to offer sacrifice to the gods.

The gods gathered around the fragrance of the incense and the offerings, like flies to smell of food. Nintu rebuked those gathered around that they were much to blame for the flood as well as Ellil and Anu.

When Ellil saw the boat, he was furious with the Igigi that someone had survived the destruction of the deluge. He demanded to know who had saved the survivors. Ea defiantly told Ellil that he (Ellil) was wrong to destroy mankind in the first place. Ellil relented.

Before the goddess Nintu, Ellil made several decrees about the future of mankind. To make sure there was no over-population, only a third of women would successfully give birth to a baby. Some of those babies would also not survive because Ellil released the pasittu-demon upon the people. This demon would snatch baby from the mother's lap.

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There are many lines missing, so it was not known if there was further decrees made, nor do we know what happened to Atrahasis. If we are to assume that this tale is similar to that of Uta-napishti, then Atrahasis became immortal as a minor god.

Strangely enough, the ending of the last tablet give us the name who wrote Atrahasis – Ipiq-Aya, a junior scribe during the reign of Ammi-saduqa. Rarely do we know the name of the author or the copyist in Mesopotamian literature.

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.

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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.