[8] A rock relief erected during the reign of the Sasanian monarch Ardashir I (r. 224–242) is located in the Khan-Takhti village near Salmas.

[9] The standing men's names are subject to interpretation, but the horsemen are typically considered to be Ardashir I and his son and heir, Shapur I.

The German orientalist Ferdinand Justi (died 1907) theorized that the relief is meant to show the Armenians' gratitude to Ardashir I and Shapur I, something which some later scholars supported.

[12] Salmas is described by the 10th-century Islamic geographers Ibn Hawkal and al-Istakhri as a tiny town in Azerbaijan with a sturdy wall in a fertile location.

[12] In 1064, the Seljuk sultan Alp Arslan (r. 1063–1072) made a military campaign against the Byzantines, Armenians and Georgians, in which the Kurds of Salmas took part.

The vizier Khwaja Taj al-Din Ali Shah Tabrizi had rebuilt the town's 8,000-steps long wall during the reign of Ilkhanate ruler Ghazan (r. 1295–1304), and Salmas's revenues—presumably those of the entire district—amounted to 39,000 dinars, a large amount.

[13] In the Battle of Salmas on 17–18 September 1429, the Kara Koyunlu were defeated by Shah Rukh who was consolidating Timurid holdings west of Lake Urmia.

[16] Mar Shimun, the Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East was murdered by the Kurdish chieftain Simko Shikak in Salmas in March 1918.

[25] The atlases below are some of the earliest maps to have been ever sketched to show the territory and originality of the name of Salmas and are some of the strongest documents providing proofs to some basic facts about the city including its existence and identity.