|
|
| Line 4: |
Line 4: |
|
| |
|
| ==History== | | ==History== |
| '''Alamut''' (Persian: الموت, transliterated ''Alamūt'') was a mountain fortress located in Alamut region in the South Caspian province of Daylam near the Rudbar region in Iran, approximately 100 km (60 mi) from present-day Tehran. The name means "Eagle's Nest".
| |
|
| |
| The origins of the Alamut fortress can be traced back to the Justanid ruler, Vahsudan, who, during a hunting trip, witnessed a soaring eagle perch down high on a rock. Realizing the tactical advantage of the location, he chose the site for
| |
| <nowiki> </nowiki>the construction of a fortress, which was called "Aluh āmū[kh]t" likely
| |
| <nowiki> </nowiki>meaning "Eagle's Teaching" or "Nest of Punishment".Alamut remained under Justanid control until the arrival of the Ismaili chief ''da’i'' (missionary) Hasan-i Sabbah to the castle in 1090 AD, marking the start of the Alamut period in Ismaili history.
| |
|
| |
| The fortress of Alamut was, unbeknownst to the Assassins, on the site of a small [[First Civilization]] temple, which contained dozens of [[Memory Seals]].<ref name="ACRVOGG">''[[Assassin's Creed: Revelations]] Official Game Guide''</ref> Under the leadership of [[Hassan-i Sabbāh]], Alamut became the site of intense activity for the [[Assassins]]. During the medieval period, the castle functioned as the major stronghold for the Order. | | The fortress of Alamut was, unbeknownst to the Assassins, on the site of a small [[First Civilization]] temple, which contained dozens of [[Memory Seals]].<ref name="ACRVOGG">''[[Assassin's Creed: Revelations]] Official Game Guide''</ref> Under the leadership of [[Hassan-i Sabbāh]], Alamut became the site of intense activity for the [[Assassins]]. During the medieval period, the castle functioned as the major stronghold for the Order. |
|
| |
|
| Line 19: |
Line 13: |
|
| |
|
| In the 18th century, the fortress' ruins were visited by the Assassin [[Edward Kenway]], in his search for First Civilization sites.<ref>''[[Assassin's Creed: Rogue]]''</ref> | | In the 18th century, the fortress' ruins were visited by the Assassin [[Edward Kenway]], in his search for First Civilization sites.<ref>''[[Assassin's Creed: Rogue]]''</ref> |
|
| |
| During the medieval
| |
| <nowiki> </nowiki>period, Western scholarship on the Ismailis contributed to the popular
| |
| view of the community as a radical sect of assassins, believed to be
| |
| trained for the precise murder of their adversaries. By the 14th century
| |
| <nowiki> </nowiki>AD, European scholarship on the topic had not advanced much beyond the
| |
| work and tales from the Crusaders.<sup>[6]:14</sup> The origins of the word forgotten, across Europe the term Assassin had taken the meaning of "professional murderer".<sup>[6]:14</sup> In 1603 the first Western publication on the topic of the Assassins was authored by a court official for King Henry IV and was mainly based on the narratives of Marco Polo (1254–1324) from his visits to the Near East. While he assembled the accounts of many Western travelers, the author failed to explain the etymology of the term Assassin.<sup>[6]:15</sup>
| |
|
| |
| The infamous Assassins were finally linked by orientalists scholar Silvestre de Sacy (d.1838) to the Arabic ''hashish'' using their variant names ''assassini'' and assissini in the 19th century. Citing the example of one of the first written applications of the Arabic term ''hashishi''
| |
| <nowiki> </nowiki>to the Ismailis by historian Abu Shams (d.1267), de Sacy demonstrated
| |
| its connection to the name given to the Ismailis throughout Western
| |
| scholarship.<sup>[6]:14</sup> Ironically, the first known usage of the term ''hashishi'' has been traced back to 1122 AD when the Fatimid Caliph al-Amir employed it in derogatory reference to the Syrian Nizaris.<sup>[6]:12</sup>
| |
| <nowiki> </nowiki>Without accusing the group of utilizing the hashish drug, the caliph
| |
| used the term in a pejorative manner. This label was quickly applied by
| |
| anti-Ismaili historians to the Ismailis of Syria and Persia.<sup>[6]:13</sup> Used figuratively, the term ''hashish'' i connoted meanings such as outcasts or rabble.<sup>[6]:13</sup>
| |
| <nowiki> </nowiki>The spread of the term was further facilitated through military
| |
| encounters between the Nizaris and the Crusaders, whose chroniclers
| |
| adopted the term and disseminated it across Europe.
| |
|
| |
| The legends of the Assassins had much to do with the training and instruction of Nizari ''fida’is'',
| |
| <nowiki> </nowiki>famed for their public missions during which they often gave their
| |
| lives to eliminate adversaries. Misinformation from the Crusader
| |
| accounts and the works of anti-Ismaili historians have contributed to
| |
| the tales of ''fida’is'' being fed with hashish as part of their training.<sup>[9]:21</sup> Whether ''fida’is'' were actually trained or dispatched by Nizari leaders is unconfirmed, but scholars including Wladimir Ivanow
| |
| <nowiki> </nowiki>purport that the assassination of key figures including Seljuq vizier
| |
| Nizam al-Mulk likely provided encouraging impetus to others in the
| |
| community who sought to secure the Nizaris from political aggression.<sup>[9]:21</sup>
| |
| <nowiki> </nowiki>In fact, the Seljuqs and Crusaders both employed assassination as a
| |
| military means of disposing of factional enemies. Yet during the Alamut
| |
| period almost any murder of political significance in the Islamic lands
| |
| became attributed to the Ismailis.<sup>[6]:129</sup>
| |
| <nowiki> </nowiki>So inflated had this association grown, that in the work of Orientalist
| |
| <nowiki> </nowiki>scholars such as Bernard Lewis the Ismailis were virtually equated to
| |
| the politically active ''fida’is''. Thus the Nizari Ismaili community was regarded as a radical and heretical sect known as the Assassins.<sup>[12]</sup>
| |
| <nowiki> </nowiki>Originally, a "local and popular term" first applied to the Ismailis of
| |
| <nowiki> </nowiki>Syria, the label was orally transmitted to Western historians and thus
| |
| found itself in their histories of the Nizaris.<sup>[10]</sup>
| |
|
| |
|
| ==Trivia== | | ==Trivia== |
Alamut was a fortress located in Iran controlled by the Levantine Assassins through the 11th and 12th centuries. The fortress was destroyed in 1256 by the Mongol Empire, after which the region was abandoned.
History
The fortress of Alamut was, unbeknownst to the Assassins, on the site of a small First Civilization temple, which contained dozens of Memory Seals.[1] Under the leadership of Hassan-i Sabbāh, Alamut became the site of intense activity for the Assassins. During the medieval period, the castle functioned as the major stronghold for the Order.
By 1227, Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad, his son Darim, his former daughter-in-law, and his grandchildren sought refuge in Alamut, after Abbas Sofian staged a coup to take over the Assassin Order. Altaïr remained in the fortress for about two decades, during which time he made several discoveries, in addition to creating a number of inventions through the knowledge he gained from the Apple of Eden.[2]
Altaïr also discovered the remains of the First Civilization temple,[1] and took six Memory Seals with him, later using five of them as keys necessary to open his library underneath the fortress of Masyaf.[3]
In 1256, Assassin control of the fortress was lost to the invading Mongol Empire, and its famous library was destroyed by fire, on the order of Ata-Malik Juwayni, a servant of the Mongol court.
In the 18th century, the fortress' ruins were visited by the Assassin Edward Kenway, in his search for First Civilization sites.[4]
Trivia
- "Alamut" is a Persian word meaning "Eagle's Nest".
References
