Background

Atrahasis (also "Atra-Hasis") was a Babylonian figure known for being the mortal survivor of the great flood in the "Epic of Atrahasis." According to Stephanie Dalley, Atrahasis represented a figure that persisted throughout Mesopotamia and the rest of the Ancient Near East.

"Atrahasis the wise man, who built an ark and saved mankind from destruction, is a figure of immense prestige and antiquity to whom various literary and religious traditions were attached. He was known by a variety of names and epithets which were translated into different languages, sometimes with reinter-preted meanings, sometimes abbreviated, and in this way his fame spread over huge distances through a span of some five thousand years. In Mesopotamian literature he was the survivor of the Flood, together with his wife, and was granted a form of immortality by the great gods. The story of the Flood was one of the most popular tales of ancient times, and is found in several ancient languages, reworked to suit different areas and cultures so that different settings and details are found in each version. The specific information which follows helps to illustrate how widely diffused the man and the story became in the ancient world." ^[1]

Atrahasis was also, allegedly, the mythological basis for the Biblical figure named Noah. The connection between Noah and Atrahasis is that they are both chosen to survive the great flood by means of a boat; and, with their families.^[2]