Sarāb

Sarab stands on the road between Tabriz and Ardabil, in the uplands south of the great volcanic mass of Sabalan. Medieval Arab geographers called the town Sarat, while the later form Sarab also gave its name to the river. Its position placed it among the towns of eastern Azarbaijan through which travellers crossed the plateau, between the mountain pastures and the neighbouring settled districts.

In the late eighteenth century Sarab was the seat of a local khanate. When Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar invaded Azarbaijan in 1791, Sadiq Khan withdrew from Tabriz to defend Sarab. He was defeated, and the Qajar army ravaged the town and its surrounding countryside in the course of the struggle to bring the region under its rule.