In Mesopotamia, the legend of the deluge is preserved in a Sumerian as well as an Akkadian version; the Akkadian one is transmitted in 17th-cent. BC copies of the Atraḫasīs myth[3. 612-645]. Extensive passages reappear verbatim on the 11th tablet of the recension of the Epic of Gilgamesh from Niniveh [3. 728-738], and the myth is later also transmitted by Berosus [1. 20 f.]. The gods perceive the noisy behaviour of the humans as hubris, causing them to eliminate…
Cite this page
Renger, Johannes (Berlin) and
Stenger, Jan (Kiel),
“Deluge, legend of the”, in:
Brill’s New Pauly, Antiquity volumes edited by: Hubert Cancik and , Helmuth Schneider, English Edition by: Christine F. Salazar, Classical Tradition volumes edited by: Manfred Landfester, English Edition by: Francis G. Gentry.
Consulted online on 22 January 2021 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e1114000>