The Legend of Sargon


(Tablets in British Museum.)
3800 B.C.

(Compare the similar stories of Perseus, of Romulus and Remus, and of Moses.)

SARGON, the mighty king, the king of Agade, am I.
My mother was a princess, my father I knew not, my father’s brother dwelt in the mountain.
My city is Azupiranu, which is situated on the bank of the Euphrates.
My mother, the princess, conceived me, in a secret place she gave me birth.
She placed me in a basket of reeds and closed the lid with pitch.
She cast me into the river which overwhelmed me not.
The river bore me along. To Akki, the irrigator, it brought me.
Akki, the irrigator, reared me to boyhood as his own son.
Akki, the irrigator, made me his gardener.
And in my gardenership the goddess Ishtar loved me.
* * * * * * for four years I ruled the kingdom.