Sargon's Birth and Adoption
1 I am Sargon, the mighty king, king of Agade.
2 My mother was a high priestess; I did not know my father.
3 My father's brother lives in the mountain.
4 My city is Azupiranu, which lies on the bank of the Euphrates.
5 My mother, the high priestess, conceived me; she gave birth to me in secret.
6 She placed me in a basket of reeds; she sealed my opening with bitumen.
7 She cast me into the river, from which I could not climb out.
8 The river carried me to Akki, the irrigator.
9 Akki, the irrigator, lifted me out while lowering his bucket.
10 Akki, the irrigator, raised me as his own son.
11 Akki, the irrigator, appointed me as his gardener.
Ishtar's Favor and Sargon's Conquests
12 While I was a gardener, the goddess Ishtar loved me.
13 I ruled the kingdom for [...] years.
14 I ruled and governed the black-headed peoples.
15 I cut through mighty mountains with copper pickaxes.
16 I climbed the upper mountains.
17 I burst through the lower mountains.
18 I besieged the Country of the Sea three times.
19 Dilmun submitted to my rule.
20 I went up to the great Dur-ilu; I [...].
21 I cleared away stones.
A Challenge to Future Kings
22 Whatever king rises after me:
23 Let him reign for [...] years.
24 Let him rule and govern the black-headed peoples.
25 Let him cut through mighty mountains with copper pickaxes.
26 Let him climb the upper mountains.
27 Let him burst through the lower mountains.
28 Let him besiege the Country of the Sea three times.
29 Let Dilmun submit to him.
30 Let him go up to the great Dur-ilu, and let him ....
31 [...]
32 [...] from my city of Agade ...
33 [...] like arrows [...]
Fragmentary Animal Passages
1 [...]
2 The wild bull [...]
3 The ewe ran about in the steppe, why does it not…? [...]
4 And the gazelle driven by the wind, the stag … [...]?
5 The owl that always hoots at night,
6 What does it achieve with its speech?
7 The wind blows there, where is its home?
8 The onager runs about, where does he go?
9 It comes [...]
10 The onager runs about, he spends his nights on the steppe
11 The eagle flies, but to aid one of his own?
12 The swift mule, where are its children?
13 Didn’t the wolf miss … the blood … ?
14 The lion eating bloody flesh.
15 [...] not [...]
16 It lay down in [...]
17 [...] [...]
18 [...]
An Introduction to the Sargon Legend
3 min read
Sargon of Akkad was a Mesopotamian king who united independent city-states into an empire during the third millennium BCE.1 The Sargon Legend describes his rise from an abandoned infant to a powerful ruler, written in his voice long after he lived. Written in Akkadian, a language of ancient Mesopotamia, it survives in tablets from Nineveh and an excerpt from Dilbat. These first-millennium copies belong to a tradition of fictional royal autobiography.2 The work is often dated to the late eighth century BCE and connected with Sargon II of Assyria, whose reign ended in 705 BCE, although an earlier composition or the reuse of earlier traditions remains possible.3 Sargon is secretly born to a priestess, who places him in a basket sealed with bitumen on the Euphrates, where Aqqi, a water-drawer, rescues him, adopts him, and employs him as a gardener. Ishtar’s love then precedes his rise to kingship, military achievements, and a challenge to future rulers to match his accomplishments.4
Sargon II’s scribes probably used the legend to justify his disputed claim to rule through comparison with his celebrated namesake, whether they composed the story or adapted an earlier tradition.5 Its major themes are survival after abandonment, adoption, an unexpected rise from ordinary work, and divine favor as a qualification for kingship. Ishtar’s love precedes the gardener’s rise to rule, while his distant campaigns establish the achievements later kings are invited to repeat.6 The anonymous writer uses the form of a royal inscription, with a first-person introduction, a record of achievements, and an address to future kings, through which an ancient ruler appears to authorize later claims to greatness.7
The legend belongs to a larger collection of traditions about Sargon, whose childhood and family were remembered in different ways. In the Sumerian Sargon Legend, written in another language of ancient Mesopotamia, his father is named La’ibum, while in the Sumerian King List his father is an unnamed gardener; in the birth legend, Sargon does not know his father, and the gardener is his adoptive parent.8 Inanna’s protection of Sargon in the Sumerian legend also provides an earlier parallel to Ishtar’s favor in the Akkadian story. The same explanation of unexpected royal succession appears in 2 Samuel 12:24–25, where God loves Solomon and he receives the name Jedidiah, a name that means beloved of God, and later succeeds David although he is not David’s eldest son.9
The closest biblical comparison is Exodus 2:1–10, where Moses’ mother also places her infant in a basket waterproofed with bitumen beside a river, and another person finds and adopts him. Both children survive danger before becoming divinely chosen leaders, and Moses works as a shepherd before God calls him, just as Sargon works as a gardener before Ishtar favors him.10 The author of Moses’ birth story may have adapted the Sargon tradition to describe Israel’s deliverer through comparison with an Assyrian royal hero.11 Other ancient writers also described rescued children, including a Hittite queen’s sons who are sent down a river; these widespread similarities leave direct literary dependence uncertain.12 In Exodus, the mother acts to save her child from a royal killing order, and a princess adopts him into the household he will eventually leave. Sargon becomes an imperial king, while Moses leads his people out of oppression without taking a throne.13
Notes