I read recently that the Akkadian king, Sargon I, or Sargon the Great, wrote that he had been rescued as a baby from a basket found among the reeds in a river. Is this to be interpreted as the workings of a monarch's vivid imagination, influenced by known biblical events? If so, was it a common practice to "borrow" selected accounts from the Bible? -- Colin Lecesne (Kingston, Jamaica)
I would like to refer you to a website that will answer your question with the degree of detail which it deserves. Click here. James Patrick Holding is the writer, and the link includes the Sargon Legend.
Short answer: No, there is no conclusive evidence that pagan narratives borrowed from the Bible. And yet it is interesting that in Genesis 1-11, the writer does indeed appear to "borrow" from well known Near Eastern creation accounts and other stories--only to turn them on their head! (For more on this, see my Genesis, Science & History).
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