ABSTRACT
The Ayas–Tabriz line was, of course, one of a number of avenues along which long-distance commercial movement took place. The siting of the toll stations is one of the most informative indications at our disposal of the way in which the authorities managed and maintained the route. The incidence of the tantaulaggio or charge for the service of the guardians also furnishes some information on the safeguarding of the route. As far as “Sermessacalo” Avnik, they are rare. The Ayas–Tabriz period leads to the third. Here trade has been severely damaged by the European crash of the 1330s and 1340s and by the subsequent depression. The Ayas–Tabriz route itself has been cancelled, at least as a complete line, by the Mamluk acquisition of Ayas and by the violent conditions within the Il-Khanid empire; slowly a new configuration develops.
