Urshanabi
Character in the Epic of Gilgamesh / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Urshanabi, also known as Sursunabu, was a figure in Mesopotamian mythology. His name is considered unusual and difficult to interpret, and consists of a prefix common in Sumerian names and a cuneiform numeral which could be read as both ⅔ or 40. Most likely it was an artificial scholarly construction. He is known from the Old Babylonian and Standard Babylonian versions of the Epic of Gilgamesh, as well as from its Hittite adaptation. He is described as a boatman in the service of the flood hero Utnapishtim, and is responsible for taking Gilgamesh to Utnapishtim's domain. In the Standard Babylonian version, he also subsequently travels with him back to Uruk. It has additionally been proposed that he might have been viewed as a survivor of the great flood, and that he acted as a ferryman of the dead comparable to Ḫumuṭ-tabal or Greek Charon.