Sargon
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Biography
In the sixth year of the reign of Ur-Zababa, divine ruler of Kish, his cup-bearer Sargon came to him with a dream: should his rule continue, four-fifths of the population would perish - but his reign would continue. Deeply troubled, Ur-Zababa stalled, claiming he would step down when it could be shown that Sargon's dream was a true one.
When the people of Kish began to die of an unknown plague, Ur-Zababa still refused to abdicate. Instead, he sent his cup-bearer, to his own lord Lugal-zage-si, god-emperor of the Sumerian Empire in Uruk, bearing a message. Sargon was told by one of Ur-Zababa's concubines that the message would instruct the emperor to kill the messenger; still, he could not refuse an order with a divine mandate. He delivered the message faithfully, informing the emperor he was aware of the contents.
Lugal-zage-si saw no reason to question the judgement of his loyal minion Ur-Zababa, and began to pronounce the sentence of death upon Sargon. When he spoke, the words that came from his mouth were in the voice of Marduk, father of law: "He who would slay a loyal servant, may walk like a king, may speak like a king, may claim to be a king, but cannot ever be the lawful king. My blessing upon the Sumerians is withdrawn."
Sargon fled Uruk, rushing back to Kish before news of the god's words could warn Ur-Zababa. Almost half the population had the plague, and many were dead already. In the king's bedroom, Sargon throttled his lord, refusing to delegate the assassination to a subordinate so the consequences would fall on him alone.
Marduk appeared before him, splitting reality in half and holding time in abeyance: "For acting in the right, you shall be given an empire. For the crime of regicide, you will see it crushed and utterly forgotten."
