Tomyris, Shiraq and Spitamen

In the mid-6th century BCE the Achaemenid dynasty grew strong in ancient Iran. Their king Cyrus II conquered many lands and also marched into Central Asia. The land of the Massagetae was ruled by Queen Tomyris. Herodotus told this war in detail in his “Histories”. He wrote that Cyrus II attacked the Massagetae by a trick; Tomyris’s son Spargapises was captured and died. Tomyris proposed settling the matter in open battle, and in the battle of 530 BCE Cyrus II was killed, as the account says. Herodotus called this war very hard-fought. Historians note that there are other accounts of Cyrus’s death, so it is right to know this story as told by an author, in the form of a legend. The next Achaemenid king, Darius I, marched against the Saka around 519 BCE. The story of Shiraq is preserved in the work of the ancient Greek writer Polyaenus: the Saka youth Shiraq pretended to help Darius and led the Persians into a waterless desert, where they suffered hardship. These accounts speak of our people’s courage and love of the homeland. In the end the Achaemenids subdued a large part of Central Asia and took tribute from its peoples.