Chapter 13 Summary

Utnapishtim begins the story of how he gained his immortality: Years earlier he had lived in the hedonistic city of Shuruppak, the constant noise from which eventually angered the god Enlil who decided to send down a hurricane and so destroy the city and all of its inhabitants. Though the other gods disagreed, Enlil was set in his plan.

Utnapishtim, at this time, was a carpenter. So, the god Ea, under the pretense of speaking, not to the human, but to a reed hut, warned Utnapishtim of the coming storm. Ea supplied him with the specifications by which he could construct an ark that would house himself, his family, and a pair of all of the living things on earth.

Utnapishtim does as he has been told by Ea while the other citizens of Shuruppak go about their daily business, until the storm...