The Standard-Babylonian recension of the Gilgamesh cycle — twelve tablets, traditionally attributed to Sîn-lēqi-unninni. The hero who sought immortality and was given mortality instead.
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Tradition
Akkadian narrative epic in twelve tablets (c. 1300–1000 BCE). Reworking and expansion of the older Sumerian Gilgamesh poems. Tablet XI preserves the Babylonian flood story (Utnapishtim), the closest non-Hebrew parallel to the Genesis 6–9 deluge.
Translation
R. W. Rogers, *Cuneiform Parallels to the Old Testament* (New York: Eaton & Mains, 1912), pp. 80-112. Translated extracts of the Standard-Babylonian recension, including the Flood narrative on Tablet XI. Editor's connecting synopsis and footnotes have been removed; only the translated lines are retained. Public domain.
License
Public domain (pre-1929 English translation). Reproduced for educational and religious commentary.