Commonalities between Mesopotamian texts and the Genesis narrative underscore its’ historicity. It was Ziusudra, hero of the flood, who “kept the name of mankind alive” according to the Sumerian composition. His name translates “life of prolonged or distant days.” He is a king in the texts and in the Sumerian King List. Although Genesis states Noah lived 950 years, Jewish historian Josephus used the word “governed” which places him in the category of “king” and supports the understanding that the names Ziusudra in Sumerian, Utnapishtim in Akkadian, and Noah in Hebrew are all the same man.