The opening chapter sets the scene for the remainder of the work with a detailed account of the flood traditions of the ancient world. It begins with the story of Noah and the flood as it occurs in the book of Genesis. It then traces the origin of the Biblical story in the Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh (thirteenth–twelfth century BCE) and the Babylonian Noah Uta-napishti. It then outlines how these flood traditions were appropriated within the early Jewish and Christian traditions. This is followed by an account of Greek and Roman Flood stories and how they were seen within the ancient world in relation to the Biblical and Mesopotamian traditions. Consideration is also given to Noah as ‘the man of righteousness’ in the New Testament, his role in the Jewish Sybilline Oracles (early first century BCE), and in the literature between the Old and New Testaments.