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 mankin…
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 May 2022 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e1114000>