In religio-mythology, baby in basket on river is a reoccurring aspect of Osiris legend (see: Osiris rescripts), wherein a new god as baby is said to have been “exposed in his infancy upon the Nile”, generally placed there in a “reed basket”, “ark”, or “chest”, and set afloat, the most famous retelling of which being the birth of Moses.

Egypt | Osiris
In c.3000BC, in Osiris mythology, Osiris, while not being born in a reed basket and set afloat on the Nile River, is tricked, during his “last supper”, by his brother Set into getting into a “chest”, specifically designed for his body’s dimensions, and thrown into the Nile, and eventually washing ashore in Byblos, where it regrew into a magnificent evergreen tree (see: Christmas tree), symbolic of the reborn Osiris as djed pillar. Osiris was the resurrected and therein, during the act of the black rite, gave birth (see: Virgin Birth) to the new divine king Horus. As Egyptian power and cultural influence spread over time, cross-culturally (see: histomap), this Egyptian river death, resurrection, god sun rebirth motif was transmitted, rescripted, and retold, presumably as a motif for god son like ruling power, or something to this effect.

Akkad | Sargon
In c.2300BC, the semi-legendary figure of Sargon of Akkad, the supposed first ruler of the Semitic-speaking Akkadian Empire; in 700BC, neo-Assyrian texts were penned associating him with the birth in basket legend:

“My mother was a high priestess, my father I knew not. The brothers of my father loved the hills. My city is Azupiranu, which is situated on the banks of the Euphrates. My high priestess mother conceived me, in secret she bore me. She set me in a basket of rushes, with bitumen she sealed my lid. She cast me into the river which rose over me. The river bore me up and carried me to Akki, the drawer of water. Akki, the drawer of water, took me as his son and reared me. Akki, the drawer of water, appointed me as his gardener. While I was a gardener, Ishtar granted me her love, and for four and ... years I exercised kingship.”

In 1909, Otto Rank noted the basket on water birth overlap between Sargon, Moses, and Oedipus. Joseph Campbell also made comparisons.

Greece and Roman | Dionysus and Bacchus

See main: Osiris, Dionysus-Bacchus, and Moses

In c.1650, Samuel Bochart noted that both Bacchus, the Roman version of Dionysus, who is the Egyptian version of Osiris, had the baby put in ark on the waters motif in their story: (Ѻ)

“Both Bacchus and Moses were born in Egypt, shut up in an "ark," and put on the waters. Both fled from Egypt toward the Red Sea and had serpents (in Moses' case, a bronze serpent). For both, water flowed from a rock and milk and honey were provided. Both were called legislators, turned sticks into snakes, saw light in the darkness, and had unknown tombs.”

Others, such as Voltaire (c.1769), William Hort (1802), Edward Stillingfleet (1817), and many others, would document over trait overlaps between the three.

In 1949, N.M. Holley gave the following table of “floating chest” motifs in Greek mythology alone: [1]

Child
Mother
Divine Father
Embarkation
Disembarkation

1. Perseus Danae Zeus Argos Seriphus
2. Telephus Auge Hercules Tegea Mysia
3. Dionysus Semele (dead on arrival) Zeus Thebes Prasia in Laconia
4. Anios (born after arrival) Rhoio Apollo Uncertain Delos
5. Tennes (young man) Hermithea (sister) Apollo Colonae in Troad Tenedos

	Child	Mother	Divine Father	Embarkation	Disembarkation

1.	Perseus	Danae	Zeus	Argos	Seriphus
2.	Telephus	Auge	Hercules	Tegea	Mysia
3.	Dionysus	Semele (dead on arrival)	Zeus	Thebes	Prasia in Laconia
4.	Anios (born after arrival)	Rhoio	Apollo	Uncertain	Delos
5.	Tennes (young man)	Hermithea (sister)	Apollo	Colonae in Troad	Tenedos

In 2014, Dorothy Murdock, in her Did Moses Exist? The Myth of the Israelite Lawgiver (pg. 201), which, to note, is the top Google Books search (Jul 2017) return for keys: “Osiris, Dionysus, Bacchus, Moses” (Ѻ), elaborates on the Osiris-Moses connection in extended format (Ѻ); herein, she gives (pgs. 331-33) 18+ Dionysus-Bacchus and Moses overlaps, the top five of which are as follows:

1. Like the Hebrew prophet, Dionysus was said to be born in or near Egypt, reflected in the epithet Nilus or "of the Nile."
2. Dionysus was "saved from the waters" in a small box or chest.
3. Bacchus's epithet was "Mises," similar to "Moses."
4. The Greek god was said to be "Bimater" or to have two mothers, like Moses with his birth and adoptive mothers.
5. Dionysus was "brought up near a mountain of Arabia called Nisa," comparable to Mt. Sinai, where Moses spent many years.

We also note that Moses had a brother and sister, Aaron and Miriam. In Hebrew 'aron' means chest, ark or box, and Miriam can be easily seen as connected to Maria, Mary and the notion of waters. (Ѻ)

Quotes
The following are related quotes:

“A similar exposure of a baby in a reed basket has been ascribed to the first Mesopotamian imperialist, Sargon of Akkad, the lither historical weight of this Moses story will have to be adjusted downward.”
— Karl Luckert (1991), Egyptian Light and Hebrew Fire (pg. 122) [2]

References
1. Holley, N.M. (1949). “The Floating Chest” (Ѻ), The Journal of Hellenic Studies, 69:39-47.
2. Luckhert, Karl. (1991). Egyptian Light and Hebrew Fire: Theological and Philosophical Roots of Christendom in Evolutionary Perspective (pg. 122). SUNY Press.