This precious fragment includes the earliest known Akkadian version of the familiar Noah motif. The story, originally comprising over 1200 lines on three tablets, begins with the creation of man, when “great indeed was the drudgery of the God.” The gods tire of humanity and, when they decide to destroy it, the god Enki (Ea) tells Atrahasis to build an ark before the impending flood. The Morgan's fragment, from the second tablet or chapter, includes an extraordinary colophon with information about the object: the work’s title (“When gods were men”), an attribution (“the junior scribe Ku-Aya”), and the place and date of its making (the city of Sippar during the eleventh year of the reign of Ammi-saduqa, King of Babylon—great, great grandson of King Hammurabi).
Tablet inscribed with a fragment of the Babylonian flood story Epic of Atrahasis in Akkadian, Mesopotamia, First Dynasty of Babylon, reign of King Ammi-saduqa (ca. 1646–1626 B. C.). Clay, 114 x 90 mm. Acquired by Pierpont Morgan before 1900. MLC 1889.