2-580-380 - © CM Dixon/Heritage Images

Babylonian story of the flood on a clay tablet, probably from Sippor, Old Babylonian, 1635BC. This is one of three tablets which contained the Epic of Ammisaduqa, hero of the Babylonian flood story. It tells how the gods arranged for a flood to drown the world; the god of wisdom, Enki, warned his devotee Atrahasis of what was to happen, thereby enabling him to prepare a boat, in which he, his household and his animals were saved. From the British Museum's collection.