In creating Inanna’s Bargain, I wondered if the folklore stories that inspired the Neo-Assyrian Birth Legend of Sargon might have originated during Sargon’s own lifetime. Here’s a short excerpt from Chapter 12.
“There are many interesting stories circulating about the king,” Etti commented. “One story claims that the king’s mother was a priestess who offered him to the gods at his birth. She floated him in a basket down the Euphrates River where he was picked up and raised by a gardener. If this story is true, then the king has lived among the lower classes and is sympathetic to their needs. He did not start out as some pompous nobleman. The common people love him for this.”
“That story is apocryphal,” I remarked. “King Sharrukin comes from a large and influential Akkadian family. Nonetheless, the story has greatly enhanced the king’s popularity. I can understand why he has not repudiated it.”
“When I first heard that story, I wondered if perhaps some parts were true,” Asutu commented. “Do we know if the king’s mother was really a priestess? And was he actually raised by a gardener?”
“We don’t know,” Kianu responded. “The king has never refuted these stories. He has also never publicly offered his own biography. By allowing these stories to circulate, he has encouraged widespread belief that they are true. Thus, he has become a mythic figure in his own time—an infant destined for greatness, offered to the gods at birth, who grew up to conquer and rule vast territories, with his authority coming directly from the gods.”
Image: Akkadians Harvesting Dates by Claire Sulos. Inspired by an ancient Akkadian cylinder seal.
CLAIRE SULOS 