(9th shahr of 25). Armenia and the kingdoms of the Caucasus had acquired an Iranian element in their populations from the early Scythian invasion (Herodotus 4.1ff), and Alan incursions into Armenia and Atropatene must have added to this minority. Thus the southeast district of Armenia could be named Sacasene; farther north, Ptolemy's Syracene indicates an influx of the nomadic Siraci, who were adjacent to the Alans (Strabo 11.2.1). The diffusion of Iranian mountain tribes into Armenia from the south would have been encouraged by the Parthian and Sasanian policy of employing them in their north-western campaigns. In northern Armenia, the Iranian-Roman rivalry for political domination was exercised along the principal east-west highway. Artaxata was the key crossroads in Iranian control. An eastern road descended the Araxes from it to Julfa (Sanora in Tabula Peutingeriana), where the road from Atropatene connected. The highway continued into Albania toward the Caspian. It apparently followed the coast into Gilan to Cyropolis (Rasht), then turned inland along the Safidrud to Atropatene. Northwest from Artaxata, a branch highway ran to the upper course of the Kur, reaching Georgia and, from there, Colchis. The westerly road from Artaxata proceeded through the Bagrevand district to the Qara-su branch of the Euphrates and secure Roman control. The Byzantine frontier city of Karin (Theodosipolis, Erzerum), near or at the old station Tharsidarate, served as a defensive bastion and offensive base against Iran. To the south, the vague border between the Roman and Sasanian spheres ran through the mountains. Here, according to Procopius, subjects of both empires mingled freely and shared a common market for their produce. South of the mountains, however, ran a second major highway; the Melitene-Amida road crossed the Tigris and continued to the vicinity of Bitlis. Continuing north, it joined the Artaxata road at or before Bagavan (*Bagauna). The major link of this southern highway to Nisibis and the Arbayistan road was from Tigranocerta; this city was probably refounded as Martyropolis (Maiferqat). After the peace of 363, it defended the Roman frontier of the Nymphiius (Batman-su) river; at that time the districts from Arzanene to Gordyene and the boundary of Nodardashiragan returned permanently to Sasanian control.

-The Cambridge History of Iran, vol. 3(2): The Seleucid, Parthian, and Sasanian Periods, ed. Ehsan Yarshater (NY: Cambridge UP, 1983), 763-764.