Heyd also observes that New Armenia, or Cilicia, which was situated on the vertex between Asia Minor and Syria, was a junction point through which the caravans had to pass. The main road which connected Syria, through Konya, with Constantinople, where the roads of Arabia and Euphrates ended, travelled through the length of New Armenia.
Another trade route, which came from Central Asia and went through Persia (Tabriz) and Armenia Major to the Mediterranean Sea, went through Malatya and Marash to Cilicia. The third important trade route connected Cilicia, via northern Syria and Baghdad, with the Persian Gulf. It was through the two latter trade routes that the products of Central Asia and India came to New Armenia and from there were carried away to the western world and even to other harbours on the Mediterranean Sea.
There was a the competing route which went through Egypt ending at the harbour city of Alexandria, but fragile and delicate spices such as pepper, carnation, nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon and other similar products were preferably transported by land through Tabriz-Armenia Major-New Armenia, or the Persian Gulf-Baghdad-New Armenia. Since the weight of these products was very low in comparison to their high value, the transport costs did not hugely influence the final price. However the merchants had to pay high customs taxes in Egypt because of the high values of the merchandise. The most compelling reason for merchants not to take this route was the high risk of damaging the delicate spices if they were transported by sea, rather than over land. 147
Nevertheless, these assets alone could not make New Armenia a major trade centre; the Armenians still had to supply good living conditions and convenient work circumstances in order to attract the western merchants. Levon II did his outmost to achieve this. In 1201 he received the first Genoese ambassador, Ogerio de Pallo, and signed a treaty with him according to which Levon II accorded all the rights and permissions which would attract the Genoese citizens to New Armenia, who wanted to trade in the country. Thus Genoese citizens avoided paying customs taxes (which were approximately 4 percent of the goods value at arrival and departure) and road taxes throughout New Armenia. At the same time the king supplied the Genoese merchants with lands in the cities of Sis, Mamistra and Tarsus to build their offices, warehouses, consulates and churches. He even let them to use the existing churches in Mamistra and Tars. Finally, these ambassadors had the right to handle the judicial processes and convictions of the Genoese citizens in New Armenia. 149
Six months later, Levon II received the Venetian ambassador, Jacopo Badoaro, who had been invested with the prerogative of the president Enrico Dandolo. This ambassador was granted the same rights in Armenia as the Genoese ambassador. However, the number of buildings which the Venetians were permitted to build was less than that of the Genoese. This was unavoidable since, as Heyd points out, if all the European envoys would hope to receive the same privileges from Levon II, the Genoese required special treatment as they had greatly assisted the Armenian ambassadors in Europe (for instance, during discussions with emperors and the pope). 152
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