NOAH
Real Name
: Ziusudra (possibly)Occupation: Wine-maker, former trade merchant and cattle rancher for King Surupak of Shurrupak
Legal Status: Citizen of Shurrupak (Third Millennium BC)
Identity: The general populace of Earth is aware of Noah except as a Biblical character.
Other Aliases: Atrahasis ("exceedingly wise," Akkadian name), Utnapishtim
("he found life," Late Sumerian
name), Xisuthros (Babylonian name), Khsisuthros (Armenian name),
The name "Noah" translates as "wanderer" in Hebrew.
Place of Birth: Unrevealed, possibly Shurrupak (now part of modern Iraq)
Place of Death: Dilmun (modern Bahrain)
Marital Status: Married
Known Relatives: Lamech (father), Betenos (mother), Emaara (name unrevealed), brothers (names unrevealed), Titea (wife), Shem, Ham, Japeth (sons), Pandora, Noela, Elijua (daughters-in-law), Nimrod, Abraham (descendants),
Group Affiliations: None
Base of Operations: Dilmun (now part of modern Bahrain), formerly Shurrupak (now part of modern Iraq)
First Appearance: The Epic of Ziusudra (historical), Genesis, Book 5, Chapter 29 (Biblical)
History: Ziusudra was an ancient Sumerian chieftain and merchant who lived in the ancient city-state of Shurrupak in the Sumerian Empire. There is not much known about his life; even the records of his existence are up to debate and controversy However, what is known about him is speculatory and often contradictory with accounts and incidents from his life turning up in the histories of other individuals.
According to some accounts, Ziusudra was the chief trade merchant for the city-state of Shurrupak, named for his father, King Shurupak, (known as Lamech in Biblical accounts and Sukur-Lam in Late Sumerian texts) around 2900 BC. As was custom for the period, he was responsible for transporting hay, barley, livestock and cattle on a barge up and down the Euphrates from neighboring regions for his people. This franchise made him a wealthy to some extent, but he likely mortgaged his land as security for cargo. After a day of loading his barge, his family held a banquet on the barge that was interrupted by a thunderstorm in the tenth year of his father's reign. The storm very quickly inundated the river and washed out dams and levees. To survive, Ziusudra cut the mooring lines of his craft and allowed it to float down the river buffeted by the weather and rising water as his family huddled below deck.
By time the storm had abated, Ziusudra and his barge had been washed far into the Persian Gulf far beyond the sight of land. Drifting in the gulf beyond land without any means to steer or power their craft, the family had to consume the supplies on board in order to survive. After five months, they eventually grounded in the brackish water of an estuary before getting moved once more by the tide. Ten months after the storm, they sighted some islands, but they still drifted another month before Ziusudra sent out a series of birds including a raven and a dove to determine how far they were from land. Although the raven failed to come back, the dove returned each time it was released. After a year and two months left adrift without sails or oars, the barge finally grounded once again at the shoreline several miles from the city of Eridu. By this point, almost all of Ziusudra's cargo had been depleted, and his family camped out at nearby hills as Ziusudra traveled to Eridu and offered a sacrifice on a ziggurat hill to the god Enki.
Unable to remain to Shurrupak, Ziusudra stayed at the Temple of Enki for a few days before selling off his barge and remaining cargo to his creditors. Meanwhile, his ancestral land at Shurrupak was sold off to pay off his remaining debts and he retired to the port-island of Dilmun (modern Bahrain) to become a wine-maker where he was later visited by Gilgamesh seeking the story of his adventure. According to estimations of the numbers in the Masoretic text of Sumeria, he lived to the age of 83. Sometime after his death, the Priests at Eridu made him an honorary deity. Meanwhile, Ziusudra's sons eventually emigrated from Mount Judi in the region of Ararat where they had settled overland to Sippur, where their accounts of the flood were once again recorded. Over the years, the accounts of Ziusudra, his sons and those of the Priests at Eridu became the basis of the Sumerian flood story, "The Epic of Ziusudra," in 1600 BC. Other versions included "The Atrahasis Epic," "The Epic of Gilgamesh," a Greek version written by the Babylonian priest Berossus around 280 BC and in "The History of Armenia" written by Moses of Khoren in the 5th Century AD. Each of these accounts included details omitted by the other versions while aspects of the stories and even embellishments occurred in unrelated texts, such as the story of Deucalion of Thessaly by Apollodorus in the First Century BC.
The most popular modern version of the story of Ziusudra appears in Hebrew in the Biblical book of Genesis, where he appears as the character of Noah,. This account now forms an event in the history of the Christian Religion. However, after thousands of retellings and embellishments over hundreds of years, the distorted version describes a world wide flood and an ark instead of a barge washing up in the mountains of Ararat, a confusion with the word har meaning "hills."
Height: Unrevealed
Weight: Unrevealed
Eyes: Blue
Hair: White (Brown in his youth)
Strength Level: Noah possessed the normal human strength level of a man of his size, age and build who engaged in extensive physical exercises.
Known Superhuman Powers: None
Abilities: Noah lived at a time when most of the population was involved with agriculture and animals and likely had experience as a shepard or cattle rancher. He was also described as a respected leader and merchant, managing the foreign trade for his father.
Weapons: None
Pets: None
Comments: This bio describes Noah per the research in "Noah's Ark and the Ziusudra Epic" by Robert M. Best. An incarnation of this character appears in Marvel Comics as a member of the Eternals named Utnapishtim.
Noah has been portrayed by actors John Huston, John Voight, Russell Crowe, Steve Carell, Michael Keaton, Lorne Greene and Sebastian Cabot among several others.
Clarifications: Noah is not to be confused with:
Last updated: 05/24/19