The 'Noise' of Humanity & Divine Displeasure
Humanity grew so numerous and loud that a god could not sleep — so he sent plague, famine, and the Flood.
Also: noise of mankind · rigmu · overpopulation · Atrahasis · why the gods sent the flood · population control
In the Atra-hasis epic, the reason the gods turn against humankind is striking: people have multiplied and their 'noise' — their clamor and restless disturbance — has grown so great that the chief god Enlil cannot sleep. He responds with plague, then drought and famine, and finally the Flood, each time trying to thin the human population. After the Flood, the gods institute death, stillbirth, and celibate women so that humanity will never again overwhelm the world. This is a remarkable early reflection on overpopulation, the limits of the earth, and a divine order that requires human numbers to be checked.
In short
The mythic motif (central to Atra-ḫasīs) that humankind's growing 'noise' (rigmu) — clamor, overpopulation, disturbance — provokes the gods to send plague, drought, and finally the Flood to reduce them.
Where it’s found
Atra-ḫasīs I–III (akkadian-pending; Lambert & Millard, Atra-ḫasīs)
How the idea developed across Sumer, Babylon & Assyria
The 'noise' (rigmu) motif and the population-control logic are distinctive to Atra-ḫasīs (Akkadian); they explain the Flood quite differently from Gilgameš XI and from the biblical 'wickedness' rationale. A notable contrast worth preserving: the Mesopotamian Flood is about NUMBERS/noise, not (primarily) moral evil.