The Heroic Epic of the Saka Hero Shırak, who single-handedly destroyed the army of the Persian ruler Darius I by luring it into the desert

 After the death of Alp Er Tunga, the Saka Empire, which gradually disintegrated and weakened, was in a difficult situation. While the powerful Iranian armies invade the Saka lands, the Saka people, together with their army, begin to write a heroic epic in defence of their homeland against Iran. One of the heroes who fought for his homeland by putting his life on the line and left his mark at the cost of his life is Shırak. Shırak single-handedly eliminated the huge Iranian army and wrote an epic. His heroic story has become a legend among the Central Asian Turks and has survived until today.
The information about how Shırak destroyed the army of Darius I is also included in the work of the Greek historian Polywin (Polybius) in his work "Military Tricks". The legend of how Shirak, which is still widespread among the Turks of Central Asia, destroyed the Iranian army attacking the Saka lands is as follows:
 The Saka people living on the shores of Sir Derya had suffered severe hardships. Persian ruler
Darius I crossed the Amu Derya with his army to invade the Saka lands. Sakas are in a difficult situation. While Saksifer, Amerge and Avmirsin, one of the Saka leaders, gathered in a tent and discussed the measures to be taken against the enemy, a man came in front of the tent and asked to meet with the Saka leaders. When permission was granted, he entered the tent and knelt in front of the leaders and introduced himself. After saying that his name was Shırak and that he was a horse herder, he said to the Saka elders
 "I know that our country is in very difficult troubles. If you provide the livelihood of my children and grandchildren after my death without any conditions and if you guarantee me now, I will go alone and destroy the Iranian army".
 Although the Saka elders were very surprised by his request, they accepted Shirag's request.
 At that moment, Shırak took out the dagger in his bosom in front of the Saka leaders, cut his own ears and nose, then stabbed his stomach in several places and left the tent in blood and headed towards the location of the enemy army.
In fact, according to the customs of the Saka, those who betrayed their country were punished in this way. Shırak went to the Iranian ruler Darius in a bloody and miserable state and asked to meet him. The guards brought him before Darius. Since Darius knew that those who betrayed the country of Sakas were punished in this way, he trusted Shırak and decided to listen to him. Shirak said to Darius:
 "O great Darius, the sultan of sultans, I have suffered such a fate because of my admiration and loyalty to you. I had actually offered to surrender to our sultan, saying that you are the greatest sultan in the world and your army is invincible. However, the Sakas accused me of treason and punished me in this way. I came here to serve you, barely escaping with my life. Please help me to take revenge on the Sakas".
 Darius asked Shirak, "How can I help you?" Shirak said:
 "O great sultan, I swear by the unquenchable fire and the holy water that the Sakas are in a very bad situation now. Starting tonight, the Sakas have decided to dismantle their tents and migrate with their children to a secret place that you can never reach. I know where this secret place is and you can reach there before them and destroy them all at once and conquer the land of Turan. If you wish, I would like to take you to their destination by a short cut. Seven days are required for this expedition. You prepare food and drink for your army for seven days".
Darius, who had been tired of war for a long time, was tempted by Shırak's offer, and the Persian army under the command of Darius' commander named Renasibet completed the preparations for the expedition and travelled into the vast desert under the guidance of Shırak.
The army spent the first day of the expedition in sparse grasslands. On the second day the desert weather started to change. On the third day, the soldiers were extremely thirsty in the hot and thirsty desert and drank all the water they had with them. On the fourth and fifth day, the army was left in despair in the desert which was impossible to get out of. Finally, the horses perished of thirst and the soldiers started to die of exhaustion.
Seeing the gravity of the situation, the commander Renasibet called Shırak to him and asked him angrily when they would reach the place where the Sakas were hiding. Shırak was very cautious and tried to calm the commander by saying that they would reach the range in only two days. Finally the seventh day of the expedition arrived. Commander Renasibet realised that he had been deceived and said to Shırak:
 "You deceived us, where are those Sakas? We are always surrounded by desert, in this desert the feet of the horse and the wings of the bird burn. Now we have neither water nor food. We can neither go forwards nor backwards. How can you deceive our great sultan?"
 After achieving his goal, Shırak said to the army commander with the pride of a great victory, "I defeated the whole army alone. Thus, I saved my nation and my country, which I love more than my life, from a great disaster. I destroyed the invading Iranian army. This is a seven-day desert road on all sides. None of you can get out of here alive. The rest of you will die of hunger and thirst. My blood will be spilt here. May my homeland and nation survive".
 These words of Sirnak hit the heart of commander Renasibet like a scalpel and he pulled his sword and tore Sirnak's head from his body. The red blood flowing from his body blossomed like a flower in the desert. This heroism of Shirnak spread all over Turan and Iran and has been sung from that day to this day without being forgotten.

Introduction to Central Asian Turkish History.Volume 1, Prof. Dr Varis Çakan, 2019.