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Image: Mike Peel / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Patriarchal · c. 7th century BCE (copy of older text)
Flood Tablet (Gilgamesh XI)
Cuneiform tablet containing a Mesopotamian flood account.
Date
c. 7th century BCE (copy of older text)
Culture
Neo-Assyrian
Material
Baked clay
Dimensions
15 cm x 13 cm
Found at
Nineveh (library of Ashurbanipal), Iraq
Held by
British Museum, London
Discovered by
Hormuzd Rassam (1853)
tabletcuneiformfloodgenesis
Description
Tablet XI of the Epic of Gilgamesh, discovered in the library of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh, describes a great flood, an ark, the release of birds, and a mountain landing — striking parallels to the biblical Flood.
Biblical significance
The Flood Tablet demonstrates that the memory of a catastrophic ancient flood was widespread in the ancient Near East, providing important context for the Genesis account (Genesis 6-9) even as it differs sharply in its theology.