(8th shahr of 25). The Sasanian northland consisted of Mah and the Caspian districts plus the north-west region. The north-west Iranian ethnic and linguistic frontier lay in the province of Media Atropatene (Adurbadagan). Its territory included the districts and road west of Lake Urmiya north to the Artaxes. In the east it was bounded by the plain of Balasagan (Muqan), the mountains of Gelan, and the Safidrud- whether before or beyond Zanjan. To the south the province merged with central Media (Mah). Its mountains were thus accessible for the movements of the Kurds and other western mountain tribes and of the Caspian tribes. Its major highway crossed the province, east of Lake Urmiya, from Hamadan toward Artaxata. Iranian trade passed this way to the Caucasus (Strabo 11.5.8) and it served as a military route from the campaign of Tigranes II to that of Heraclius. The group of seven stations depicted in Tabula Peutingeriana across the mountains from Hulwan must begin in the Jaghatu valley: Nicea Nialia could be Barza, where the road to the Gadir valley and Urmiya diverged. The main road continued to or by Laylan, possibly the Atropatenian capital of Ganzag-i Shizigan (Gazaca). To the east of this stretch of road, a route along the Saruq river led to the cult site of the Karafto caves and on to Takht-i Sulaiman and the city of Shiz. This summer residence of the Parthian kings contained, under the Sasanians, the great shrine of the foundation Adur Gushnasp. North of Ganzag lay the stronghold of Praaspa/Phraata (later Afraza/Maragha), which resisted Antony's siege in 36 BC. The subsequent route to Artaxata seems to have been via Marand and Khuy, then following the Atropatenian bank of the Araxes.

Toward Gilan lay Ardabil, "City of Adurbadagan". It secured the road into Balasagan and Albania, which offered an invasion route to Alans, and later Huns, coming from the Caspian Gates. It was reached from Mah via Zanjan. The latter city was a major crossroads; a north-westerly route ran to the crossing of the Araxes at Julfa. This is possibly the Lazo-Sanora road sketched in Tabula Peutingeriana.

-The Cambridge History of Iran, vol. 3(2): The Seleucid, Parthian, and Sasanian Periods, ed. Ehsan Yarshater (NY: Cambridge UP, 1983), 762-763.