In this class Dr. Keislar briefly describes the ancient Sumerian and Babylonian stories of the flood, written long before the obviously related Biblical story of Noah. In Sumerian texts, the name of the  hero was Ziusudra and in the Babylonian texts Utnapishtim (or Atrahasis).

In these accounts, the leader of the Anunnaki on Earth, Enlil, with the support of the rest of his fellow Niburean leaders, decided to destroy the entire human population because it had become too numerous. However, his half-brother Enki (who had genetically engineered Homo sapiens using some of his own DNA) secretly saved his creation.

After famine and disease had failed to wipe out humanity, Enlil announced that an upcoming flood would destroy mankind; all the Anunnaki needed to do was prevent any human beings from finding out about the approaching flood. However, Enki indirectly informed Ziusudra and advised him to build a huge boat to save humanity and other living things on Earth, much like God in the Hebrew Bible told Noah to do.

The main difference between the two very similar accounts, Mesopotamian and Hebrew, is that in the former there are many “gods” while in the latter there is only one God. Perhaps the reason for this is that, at the time the Bible account of Noah was written the story of the flood was widely known and accepted as an important historical event; therefore the Bible used that story, but somewhat changed it, in order to teach its monotheistic message.

Zecharia Sitchin suggests that this great flood occurred at the end of the last ice age, when the Antarctic ice shelf slipped into the ocean, creating a huge tidal wave. This fits in well with the timing and direction of the flood according to the Mesopotamian version, about 11,000 B.C.E. and “from the South”.