Medieval merchants

thumb|400px|Map of Eurasia showing the trade network of the Radhanites (in blue), , as reported in the account of [[Ibn Khordadbeh in the Book of Roads and Kingdoms; other trade routes of the period are shown in purple.]]

230px|thumb|Pochteca as they appear in the Florentine Codex Pochteca (singular pochtecatl) were professional, long-distance traveling merchants in the Aztec Empire. The trade or commerce was referred to as pochtecayotl. Within the empire, the pochteca performed three primary duties: market management, international trade, and acting as market intermediaries domestically. They were a small but important class as they not only facilitated commerce, but also communicated vital information across the empire and beyond its borders, and were often employed as spies due to their extensive travel and

Byzantine general