Utnapashti is the central character in this myth from ancient Iraq. He is warned by one of the gods, Ea, that a flood is coming to destroy humanity. Ea tells Utnapashti to build a boat and to take on board the seed of all living things. When Enlil, another god, sees that Utnapashti has survived he is at first angry but then, convinced by Ea’s argument that Utnapashti is a good man who has survived and helped all of creation survive by his own skill, blesses Utnapashti and his wife and makes them immortal.