Connection to Humanity

It is surprising that there is a multitude of flood stories from the past, some ancient such as the Babylonian story, some more recent such as the Noah's Ark story. In particular, those two stories share many common plot characteristics, and the latter story may have borrowed from the Babylonian story. This story, just like the Epic of Creation, holds that mankind was created for the use of the gods, and that the gods also have human-like characteristics and flaws. However, in this story, much more concentration is on humans than the gods.

In fact, in the Epic of Creation, the details about mankind and its superficial purpose were very briefly explained, but the Story of the Flood gives a thorough description of the creation and purpose of humankind. The gods, especially Marduk, were the main focus of the Epic of Creation, but Atrahasis, a human being, is the protagonist in the story. Not a single name is given to a human being in the former story. This story of the flood gives a much more emotional point of view from the perspective of mankind. Thus, to the Babylonians of the story's time, there was a more meaningful connection to the myth, than to Epic of Creation. It was the entire human population in jeopardy, and one man's dream that saved him and the rest of mankind.

Also, other analogs and similarities between the gods and humans exist. The idea of the rebellion of hard-working class gods against the higher gods is evident in the real world, because people have to go through hard work, or even slavery, under a higher authority. This, too, helps relate the readers to the story more so than the Epic of Creation.