How To Write Assassin Characters? The 13 New Answer

form of murder

“Hitman” redirects here. For other uses, see Hitman (disambiguation)

Contract killing is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill one or more targets.[1] It is an illegal agreement involving some form of payment, monetary or otherwise. Each party can be a person, a group or an organization. Killing for hire has been linked to organized crime, government conspiracies, dictatorships and vendettas. For example, in the United States, the Jewish-American organized crime gang Murder, Inc. committed hundreds of murders on behalf of the National Crime Syndicate in the 1930s and 40s.

Killing for hire offers the client the benefit of not having to perform the actual killing, making it more difficult for law enforcement to connect the tenant to the murder. The likelihood that authorities will establish that party’s guilt for the crime committed, particularly due to a lack of forensic evidence related to the contracting party, makes it more difficult to attribute the case to the hiring party. Contract killers may exhibit serial killer traits, but are generally not classified as such due to third party killing goals and detached financial and emotional incentives.[2][4] Despite this, there are occasionally individuals who are labeled as both contract killers and serial killers.[5][6][7]

A hitman is colloquially referred to as a killer. Assassins who work for criminal organizations are often referred to as enforcers.

Statistics[edit]

A study by the Australian Institute of Criminology of 162 contract killings and attempted killings in Australia between 1989 and 2002 found that the most common reason for contract killings was insurance policy payouts. The study also found that payments per kill varied between $5,000 and $30,000, with an average of $15,000, and that the most common weapons used were firearms. Contract killings accounted for 2% of homicides in Australia during this period.[8] Contract killings generally account for a small percentage of homicides. For example, they accounted for around 5% of all homicides in Scotland between 1993 and 2002.[9]

Notable people[ edit ]

offender [edit]

sacrifice [edit]

Employer[edit]

In popular culture[edit]

Fictional cases of hitmen, or “hitmen,” are depicted in a number of popular genres of fiction, including comics, films, and video games, throughout the 20th and 21st centuries.

Killing contracts is a core aspect of the Hitman video game franchise, in which the player controls a hired hitman known simply as Agent 47. In Hotline Miami, the player controls a man who receives mysterious phone calls asking him to kill members of the Russian mafia.[23]

The RentAHitman.com website is a satirical home page for a fake hitman agency. Its owner provides law enforcement agencies with information about people who try to use its services.[24]

Nothing Personal is a television documentary series presenting assassination stories.[25]

See also[edit]

If the Sept. 21 front-page article, “Army Instructed Latins on Executions, Torture,” weren’t reason enough for Congress to ban the U.S. Army School of the Americas (SOA) to close?

I am a Maryknoll Catholic priest writing from federal prison in Atlanta, where I am serving a six month sentence for a nonviolent protest against the SOA. I was among 13 arrested, including a 74-year-old nun, a Jesuit priest, a lawyer, World War II veterans and a mother of eight. Based in Fort Benning, Georgia, SOA trains hundreds of Latin American soldiers in combat skills each year at the expense of US taxpayers.

Founded in 1946, the school has quietly trained more than 60,000 soldiers from Latin America. Consequently, the nations with the worst human rights records sent the most soldiers to school. Bolivia under General Hugo Banzer, Nicaragua under the Somozas, El Salvador in the bloodiest years of the civil war – they were all top customers of SOA in the heyday of its military abuses.

We have now been told by the Pentagon that the SOA manuals taught the Latin American military how to torture, execute and blackmail. What we are not told is that the targets were the poor and those who dared speak out for the poor. In El Salvador, SOA graduates were responsible for the massacre of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and their daughter; the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero; the rape and murder of four US church women; the El Mozote massacre, which killed more than 800 men, women and children; and many other atrocities.

With the Cold War behind us, there have been many changes in Latin America, but things are business as usual at the Pentagon and at the School of the Americas. At a time when school budgets for our children are being cut, SOA is costing us millions of dollars. That’s shameful!

The fact that the Army continues to train the Latin American military on SOA, even with changes in the curriculum, is a disgrace to our country’s commitment to the rule of law and a terrible waste of taxpayers’ money. It’s time to shut down this assassin school. THE REFEREE. ROY BOURGEOIS Atlanta

Julio Santana dropped to his left knee, rested his right elbow on his hip, and held his hunting rifle steady until he had his sights on the man named Yellow.

It was August 6, 1971 and Santana was 17 years old.

In his village deep in the Amazon rainforest, where he lived in a hut with his parents and two brothers, he was considered a good marksman. But he had only ever hunted forest rodents and monkeys for food. The man he wanted to kill, Antonio Martins, was a 38-year-old fisherman with blond hair and fair skin. Julio had watched Yellow for three hours under a sweltering canopy of leaves and wasn’t sure if he could actually pull the trigger.

Yellow had raped a 13-year-old girl in a nearby village, and her father had hired Santana’s uncle, a professional hitman, to kill him. Julio knew that the natives of the vast and lawless Amazon had been taking the law into their own hands for centuries. Still, he was shocked to find out that his favorite uncle – a military policeman – was also a hit man. And now he’s passed his latest job on to his nephew in hopes of recruiting him as an assassin.

Santana hesitated, fearing he would go to hell for killing another human, but when his uncle Cicero explained how Yellow had tricked the girl, he promised to take her to see the pink dolphins on the Tocantins River before he raped her in his canoe, Julio began to change his mind.

To seal the deal, Cicero, who was too ill with malaria to take the blow alone, told his nephew that God was looking the other way. After the murder, all it took was 10 Hail Marys and 20 Our Fathers, he said.

“It is my guarantee that you will be forgiven,” Cicero said.

Santana grabbed his rifle and stared straight at Yellow’s chest as he stood in his wooden fishing boat in a clearing near the river. He knew he couldn’t possibly miss his target at just 40 yards. As the shot rang out in the stillness of the forest, Santana saw a fleeting look of terror on his victim’s face before he fell dead to the bottom of his boat. He would later get rid of the corpse, gut his victim and throw it into the river where swarms of piranhas would devour the remains.

“Never in my life will I kill anyone, Lord,” he said. “Never again.”

Santana would remember that first murder for the rest of his blood-soaked career.

Even after taking the lives of nearly 500 people to become the world’s most prolific hitman, the look on Yellow’s face the moment before his death would haunt his dreams for decades.

Santana had few ambitions in life. Like most young men in the Brazilian hinterland, he seemed “destined to become a peaceful fisherman, lost in the depths of the rainforest,” writes award-winning Brazilian reporter Klester Cavalcanti in his new book The Name of Death. chronicling Santana’s career. In Brazil, the book was also adapted as a feature film.

Cavalcanti said he met Julio 10 years ago on a reporting trip to the Amazon to study modern slave labor.

“A federal police officer told me that it was very common in this region for ranchers to hire hired hitmen to kill fugitive slaves,” Cavalcanti, 49, told The Post. “I told the officer I would really like to interview a killer and he gave me a number for a pay phone and said to call it at a certain date and time.”

When Santana picked up the payphone in Porto Franco, the small town in the Brazilian hinterland of Maranhao where he lived at the time, he hesitated to speak to the reporter.

“I spent seven years trying to convince him to talk to me about his life,” Cavalcanti said. “We talked about everything and not just his job. He talked about his childhood, his relationship with his parents and brothers, and the quiet life he led in the woods, as well as the inner drama he experienced when he first started working as a hitman.”

For his part, now 64-year-old Santana told the Post in an email interview last week that while he was pleased with the “honest” way in which Cavalcanti told his story, he was less than pleased with the film, who seemed to glorify his profession.

“The real story of my life is much sadder than anything you can imagine,” he said.

After the first murder, Santana’s uncle offered him to be an assassin for the Brazilian government fighting communist insurgents in the Araguaia river basin in the Amazon. From 1967 to 1974, the so-called Araguaia guerrillas attempted to establish a rural stronghold to overthrow Brazil’s military dictatorship, recruiting farmers and fishermen to their cause.

In the early 1970s, Santana was initially hired as a guide to track down guerrilla camps. In one case, he helped capture left-wing militant Jose Genoino, a law student and one of the guerrilla leaders. Santana watched in horror as soldiers waterboarded him for days at a secret location in the rainforest. Years later, Genoino became a congressman and president of the left-wing Labor Party. In an interview with Cavalcanti, he recalled the “boy” in the group who had captured him in the Amazon. Julio was just 18 at the time and was partially rewarded for his work with a bottle of Coca-Cola – his favorite drink and a luxury his impoverished family could never afford.

Shortly after Genoino’s arrest, Santana shot and killed another communist militant, a 22-year-old schoolteacher named Maria Lucia Petit. For nearly two decades, Petit was listed simply as “disappeared.” The full story of how she ended up in a mass grave in a dusty cemetery, her body wrapped in an old parachute, only recently came to light after her family pressured a Brazilian truth commission to exhume bodies.

After the restoration of civil rule in Brazil in 1985, Santana’s victims turned from political targets to thieving savage gold miners and cheating spouses. After killing a married woman suspected of having an affair in 1987, Santana was caught by local police and spent a night in jail. He was released after giving his new motorcycle as a bribe.

Around that time, Santana said he found out his uncle had cheated him by arranging the hits, but only gave Santana a tiny fraction of the amount he had paid in advance. On average, Santana says, he earned between $60 and $80 per hit, which would have equated to a minimum monthly salary in Brazil during the years he was active. After confronting his uncle about exploiting him for over 20 years, he never spoke to him again, he said.

Santana quit dealing death in 2006 when he turned 52 and after his wife gave him an ultimatum.

“Either he has given up this life or he could forget her and her children,” writes Cavalcanti. “His wife repeatedly told him that his ruse of saying 10 Hail Marys and 20 Our Fathers, which Julio continued to do after each murder, was not real remorse.”

Santana, who had been raised Catholic, turned to an evangelical cult to help him reform his way of life.

“I’ve always believed in God,” he told the Post. “I believe that God has given me the strength to endure everything I have suffered in my life because of this evil work. I know what I did was wrong.”

He never told his two adult children or his long-dead parents about his career. He credits his wife, whom he met while she worked as a waitress in a bar in the Amazon, with encouraging him to quit his job and embrace her faith.

“She’s the love of my life, the person who gave me the strength to overcome everything I’ve been through,” he said. “Without her I would be nothing.”

Today he lives quietly in a city in the interior of Brazil, which he does not want to name. He refuses to have a full picture taken because he says none of his neighbors know anything about his past. He and his wife now own a small farm where he grows vegetables, he said.

For once in his life, he meticulously wrote down every murder in a school exercise book, noting who hired him, where the murder took place, and how much it was paid.

After reaching number 492, he stopped logging the deaths.

“I don’t want to think about it anymore,” he said. “That part of my life is over.”

How common is it for an employer to prorate a raise if you join mid-year? For comparison, annual salary increases are issued in July each year. I joined in January. Normally I would get an 8% raise, but because I joined after about half a year, I got ~4%. My jaw just dropped when Big Boss said that. I mean inflation is not prorated. thoughts on this?

14 9 comments

1090–1275 Nizari Shia sect in Persia and Syria

The Order of the Assassins or simply the Assassins (Persian: حَشّاشین Ḥaššāšīn) (Arabic: الحشَّاشين al-Ḥaššāšīn) was a Nizari-Isma’ili Shia sect that lived in the mountains of Persia and Syria between 1090 and 127. They pursued a strict policy of evasion throughout the Middle East, through the covert assassination of first Muslim and later Christian leaders who were considered enemies of their state. The modern term assassination is based on the tactics of assassins.[1]

Nizari Isma’ilism arose in the late 11th century after a succession crisis within the Fatimid Caliphate between Nizar ibn al-Mustansir and his half-brother, the Caliph al-Musta’li.[2] Contemporary historians include the Arabs ibn al-Qalanisi and Ali ibn al-Athir and the Persian Ata-Malik Juvayni. The first two referred to the Assassins as batiniyya, an epithet widely accepted by the Isma’ilis themselves.[3][4]

Overview [ edit ]

The Nizari Isma’ili State, later known as the Assassins, was founded by Hassan-i Sabbah. The state was established in 1090 after the capture of Alamut Castle in modern Iran, which served as the headquarters of the Assassins. The castles of Alamut and Lambsar became the basis of a network of Isma’ili fortresses throughout Persia and Syria that formed the backbone of the Assassins’ power and included Syrian fortresses at Masyaf, Abu Qubays, al-Qadmus and al-Kahf. The Nizari Isma’ili state was ruled by Hassan-i Sabbah until his death in 1124. The Western world was introduced to the Assassins through the works of Marco Polo[5], who understood the name to derive from the word hashish.[6] [7][8]

Map of the Crusader States, showing the Assassin-controlled area around Masyaf slightly above center in white.

The rulers of the Nizari Isma’ili state were religious leaders, first da’i and later imams.[9] Prominent assassin leaders operating in Syria were al-Hakim al-Munajjim, the physician and astrologer (d. 1103), Abu Tahir al-Sa’igh, the goldsmith (d. 1113), Bahram al-Da’i (d .1127). ) and Rashid ad-Din Sinan, known as the greatest Assassin chief (d. 1193).

While assassins usually refer to the sect as a whole, only a group of disciples known as the Fida’i were actually involved in conflict. Lacking an army of their own, the Nizari relied on these warriors to conduct espionage and assassination of key enemy figures. The preferred method of killing was dagger, nerve agent, or arrows. The assassins posed a significant strategic threat to Fatimid, Abbasid, and Seljuk authority. Over the course of nearly 300 years, they killed hundreds—including three caliphs, a ruler of Jerusalem, and several Muslim and Christian leaders.[10] The first instance of murder in an attempt to establish a Nizari Isma’ili state in Persia was the assassination of the Seljuk vizier Nizam al-Mulk in 1092.[11]

Other notable victims of the assassins are Janah ad-Dawla, Emir of Homs (1103), Mawdud ibn Altuntash, Atabeg of Mosul (1113), Fatimid vizier Al-Afdal Shahanshah (1121), Seljuk Atabeg Aqsunqur al-Bursuqi (1126), the Fatimid Caliph al-Amir bi-Ahkami’l-Lah (1130), Taj al-Mulk Buri, Atabeg of Damascus (1132), and the Abbasid Caliphs al-Mustarshid (1135) and ar-Rashid (1138). Saladin, a chief enemy of the Assassins, escaped assassination twice (1175-1176). The first Frank known to have been killed by the Assassins was Raymond II, Earl of Tripoli in 1152. Recognized and feared by the Crusaders, the Assassins lost the de facto king of Jerusalem in 1192 , Conrad of Montferrat, by the blade of an assassin and Lord Philip of Montfort of Tire in 1270.

During the reign of Imam Rukn al-Din Khurshah, the state of Nizari Isma’ili internally declined and was eventually destroyed when Khurshah abandoned the castles after the Mongol invasion of Persia. Khurshah died in 1256 and by 1275 the Mongols had destroyed and eliminated the Order of Assassins.[12]

Accounts of the Assassins have been preserved in Western, Arabic, Syriac, and Persian sources, where they are portrayed as trained assassins responsible for the systematic elimination of opposing figures. European Orientalists of the 19th and 20th centuries also referred to the Isma’ili assassins in their works and wrote about them on the basis of accounts in seminal works by medieval Sunni Arabic and Persian authors, most notably ibn al-Qalanisis Mudhayyal Ta’rikh Dimashq (Continued from the Chronicles of Damascus), ibn al-Athirs al-Kāmil fit-Tārīkh (The Complete History) and Juvaynis Tarīkh-i Jahān-gushā (History of the World Conqueror).

Origins [edit]

Hassan-i Sabbah was born in Qom, ca. 1050 and completed his religious studies in Cairo with the Fatimids. Sabbah’s father was a Qahtanite Arab, said to be a descendant of Himyarite kings[13] who migrated from Kufa to Qom. His support of Nizar ibn al-Mustansir in the succession crisis led to his imprisonment and deportation. He made his way to Persia, where by subterfuge he and his followers captured the castle of Alamut in 1090. This was the beginning of the Nizari Isma’ili State and the Assassins. Hassan-i Sabbah was not a direct descendant of Nizar and therefore a da’i rather than an imam. It was the teaching of the Isma’ili that he kept Nizar’s lineage intact through the so-called “hidden imams”.[14] Sabbah modified the fortress to suit his needs, not only for defense against enemy forces but also for the indoctrination of his followers. After laying claim to the fortress in Alamut, Sabbah began to expand his influence outward to nearby towns and districts, using his agents to gain political favor and intimidate the local populace. Sabbah spent most of his days in Alamut producing religious works and developing doctrines for his order, and would never leave his stronghold again. Murder for religious reasons was nothing new in the region, as evidenced by the strangler sects of southern Iraq from the 8th century. The strangler sects were stopped by the Umayyads; the assassins would not be of the later caliphs.[15]

Shortly after establishing their headquarters at Alamut Castle, the sect captured Lambsar Castle, the largest of the Isma’ili strongholds, and confirmed the power of the Assassins in northern Persia. The estimated date of Lambsar’s capture varies between 1096 and 1102. The castle was taken under the command of Kiya Buzurg Ummid, later Sabbah’s successor, who remained in command of the castle for twenty years.[16] No interactions were noted between the Christian forces of the First Crusade and the Assassins, the latter focusing on the former’s Muslim enemies. Apart from a mention of Tancred’s conquest of Apamea in 1106 (see below) in Gesta Tancredi[17] Western Europe probably first learned of the Assassins from William of Tyre’s chronicles, A History of Deeds Done Beyond the Sea, published much later became. William coined the phrase “Old Man of the Mountain” to describe the Nizari Isma’ili da’i in Alamut.

The Assassins were immediately threatened by the forces of Seljuk Sultan Malik-Shah I, marking the start of the Nizari-Seljuk Wars. One of Sabbah’s disciples from Qazvin, named Dihdar Bu-Ali, rallied local supporters to repel the Seljuks.[20] Their attack on Alamut Castle and the surrounding area was called off after the Sultan’s death. The new Sultan Barkiyaruq, son of Malik-Shah I, did not continue the direct attack on Alamut and focused on securing his position against rivals, including his half-brother Muhammad I Tapar, who eventually settled for a smaller role and Malik became (translated as “king”) in Armenia and Azerbaijan.

The first notable assassination was that of the powerful Seljuk vizier Nizam al-Mulk in 1092, who had helped bring Barkiyaruq to the top of the sultanate. Sabbah is reported to have said, “Killing this devil is the beginning of bliss” upon hearing of Nizam’s death. Of the 50 assassinations committed during Sabbah’s reign, more than half were Seljuk officials, many of whom supported Muhammad I Tapar.[21] The story (presented here) alleging a friendship between Nizam al-Mulk, Hassan-i Sabbah and Omar Khayyam, as described by Edward FitzGerald in his translation of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, is certainly false.[22]

The Assassins captured the Persian castles of Rudkhan and Gerdkuh in 1096 before turning to Syria. Gerdkuh was re-fortified by Mu’ayyad al-Din Muzaffar ibn Ahmad Mustawfi, a Seljuk who was a secret convert from the Isma’ili, and his son Sharaf al-Din Muhammad.[23] There they seized the Banu Munqidh-held fortress at Shaizar and used it to spread terror in Isfahan, the heart of the Seljuk Empire. A local rebellion drove the Assassins out, but they continued to occupy a smaller fortress in Khalinjan. In 1097, Barkiyaruq’s associate Bursuq was killed by assassins.[24]

By 1100, Barkiyaruq had consolidated its power and the Assassins increased their presence, infiltrating the Sultan’s court and army. Daily court functions were often performed in armor and with weapons. The next year he assigned his brother Ahmad Sanjar, then ruler of Khorasan, to attack Assassin strongholds in Quhistan. The siege of Tabas was initially successful, the walls of the fortress were breached but then lifted, possibly because the Seljuk commander had been bribed. The ensuing attack was devastating for the Assassins, but the terms granted were generous and they were soon restored in both Quhistan and Tabas. In the years that followed, the Assassins continued their mission against religious and secular leaders. Faced with these successes, they began expanding their operations into Syria.

Expansion into Syria[ edit ]

The first da’i Hassan-i dispatched to Syria was al-Hakim al-Munajjim, a Persian known as a physician-astrologer who founded a cell in Aleppo in the early 12th century. Ridwan, the Emir of Aleppo, was looking for allies and worked closely with al-Hakim, leading to speculation that Ridwan himself was a Nizari. The alliance was first shown in 1103 in the assassination of Janah ad-Dawla, Emir of Homs and a key opponent of Ridwan. He was assassinated by three assassins in the Grand Mosque of al-Nuri in Homs. Al-Hakim died a few weeks later and was succeeded by Abu Tahir al-Sa’igh, a Persian known as a goldsmith.

After the death of Barkiyaruq in 1105, his successor Muhammad I Tapar began his anti-Nizari campaign. While they successfully purged parts of Persia of the Assassins, they remained untouchable in their northern strongholds. An eight-year war of attrition was launched under the command of Ahmad ibn Nizam al-Mulk, the son of the first assassin victim. The mission had some success and negotiated a surrender of Khalinjan with the local Assassin leader Ahmad ibn ‘Abd al-Malik ibn Attāsh, with the occupiers being allowed to go to Tabas and Arrajan. But ibn Nizam al-Mulk was unable to take Alamut Castle and avenge the death of his father and brother Fakhr al-Mulk. During the siege of Alamut[25] there was a famine and Hassan had his wife and daughters sent to the fortress of Gerdkuh. After this time, the Assassins never again allowed their wives to be in their strongholds during campaigns, both for protection and secrecy. In the end, ibn Attāsh failed in his obligation and was skinned alive, his head handed over to the Sultan.[26]

In Syria, in 1106, Abu Tahir al-Sa’igh, Ridwan and Abu’l Fath of Sarmin conspired to send a team of assassins to kill Khalaf ibn Mula’ib, the Emir of Apamea (Qalaat al-Madiq), to murder. Some of Khalaf’s sons and guards were also killed and after the murder Ridwan became overlord of Apamea and its fortress of Qal’at al-Madiq with Abu’l Fath as Emir. A surviving son of Khalaf escaped and turned to Tancred, who was initially content to leave the city in Isma’ili hands and simply collect tribute. He later returned and captured the city for Antioch, as the city’s residents overwhelmingly approved of Frankish rule. Abu’l Fath was tortured to death while Abu Tahir bought his freedom and returned to Aleppo. This encounter, the first between the Crusaders and the Assassins, did not deter the latter from their main mission against the Seljuks.[27]

Some time later, after 1108, Ahmad ibn Nizam al-Mulk himself was attacked by assassins in revenge but survived. Not so fortunate were Ubayd Allah al-Khatib, qadi of Isfahan, and a qadi of Nishapur, both of whom fell to the assassins’ blade.[28]

The Assassins wreaked havoc among the Syrian rulers, their first major murder being that of Mawdud, Atabeg of Mosul, in 1113. Mawdud was felled by assassins in Damascus while he was a guest of Toghtekin, Atabeg of Damascus. He was replaced in Mosul by al-Bursuqi, who himself would become a victim of the Assassins in 1126. Toghtekin’s son, the great Buri, founder of the Burid dynasty, fell victim to the assassins in 1131 and died a year later as a result of his injuries.[29]

Ridwan died in 1113 and was succeeded as ruler of Aleppo by his son Alp Arslan al-Akhras. Alp Arslan continued his father’s forgiving attitude towards the Assassins. A warning from Muhammed I Tapar and an earlier assassination attempt on Abu Harb Isa ibn Zayd, a wealthy Persian merchant, led to a wholesale expulsion of the Assassins from Aleppo that same year. Led by militia commander Sāʿid ibn Badī, the attack resulted in the execution of Abu Tahir al-Sa’igh and the brother of al-Hakim al-Munajjim, killing or imprisoning 200 other assassins, some thrown from the top of the citadel. Many took refuge with the Banu Munqidh in Shaizar. Revenge was slow but sure and was carried out on Sā’id ibn Badī in 1119. The helpless Arp Arslan had Sāʿid banished to Qalʿat Jaʿbar, where he was murdered by assassins along with two of his sons.

The Assassins struck again in Damascus in 1116. As a guest of Toghtekin, the Kurdish Emir Ahmad-Il ibn Ibrāhim ibn Wahsūdān was sitting next to his host when a grieving man approached him with a petition he wished to convey to Muhammad I Tapar. As Ahmad-Il received the document, he was stabbed with a dagger, then repeatedly by a second and third accomplice. It was thought that Toghtekin might be the real target, but the attackers were discovered to be assassins, probably after Ahmad-Il, the Sultan’s foster brother.

In 1118 Muhammad I Tapar died and his brother Ahmad Sanjar became Seljuk sultan and Hassan sent ambassadors to seek peace. When Sanjar rejected these ambassadors, Hassan sent his assassins to the Sultan. Sanjar woke up one morning with a dagger stuck in the ground by his bed. Concerned, he kept the matter a secret. A messenger from Hassan came and said, “Didn’t I wish the Sultan well that the dagger that was struck in the hard ground might have been planted on your soft breast?” A truce prevailed between the Isma’ilis and the Seljuks for the next several decades. Sanjar himself retired the assassins from the taxes they collected from the lands they owned, gave them grants and licenses, and even allowed them to levy duties on travelers.[34]

By 1120 the Assassins’ position in Aleppo had improved to the point that they claimed the small citadel of Qal’at ash-Sharif from Ilghazi, then Artuqid Emir of Aleppo. Instead of refusing, he had the citadel demolished. The end of the Assassins’ influence in Aleppo ended in 1124 when they were driven out by Belek Ghazi, a successor of Ilghazi. Despite this, the Qadi ibn al-Khashahab who oversaw the demolition of Qal’at al-Sharif was killed by assassins in 1125.[35] At the same time, the Diyarbakir assassins were attacked by the locals, resulting in hundreds of deaths.[36]

No one was more responsible for the succession crisis caused by Nizar ibn Mustarstir’s exile than the powerful Fatimid vizier al-Afdal Shahanshah. In 1121, al-Afdal was assassinated by three Aleppo assassins, leading to a seven-day celebration among the Isma’ilis and no great mourning in the court of the Fatimid caliph al-Amir bi-Ahkam Allah, who resented his growing audacity. Al-Afdal Shahanshah was replaced as vizier by al-Ma’mum al-Bata’ihi, who was charged with preparing a letter of rapprochement between Cairo and Alamut. When they learned of a plot to kill both al-Amir and al-Ma’mum, such ideas were dismissed and strict restrictions on dealing with the assassins were instead put in place.[37]

The next generation[edit]

In 1124, Hassan-i Sabbah died, leaving a legacy that reverberated across the Middle East for centuries. He was succeeded in Alamut by Kiya Buzurg Ummid.

The appointment of a new Da’i in Alamut may have led the Seljuks to believe the Assassins were in a weakened position, and Ahmad Sanjar launched an attack on them in 1126. Led by Sanjar’s vizier Mu’in ad-Din Kashi, the Seljuks struck again at Quhistan and also Nishapur to the east and at Rudbar to the north. To the east, the Seljuks had minor successes at a village near Sabzevar, where the population was destroyed and their leader jumped from the mosque’s minaret, and at Turaythirth in Nishapur, where the attackers “killed many, took much booty, and then returned. ” The results were not decisive at best, but better than the route given to the Seljuks to the north, with one expedition being driven back, losing its previous loot and another having a Seljuk commander captured. In the end, the position of the Isma’ ili better than before the offensive Under the guise of a peace offering from two Arabian horses, assassins gained the trust of Mu’in ad-Din Kashi and killed him in 1127.[38]

At the same time in Syria, a Persian named Bahram al-Da’i, the successor of Abu Tahir al-Sa’igh, who had been executed in Aleppo in 1113, appeared in Damascus, reflecting the collaboration between the Assassins and Toghtekin, including a joint operation against the Crusaders. Bahram, a Persian from Asterabad (present-day Gorgan), had lived in secret after the Assassins were driven out of Aleppo and was the nephew of an assassin Abu Ibrahim al-Asterbadi, who was executed by Barkiyaruq in 1101.[39] Bahram was most likely behind the assassination of al-Bursuqi in 1126, whose assassination may have been ordered by the Seljuk Sultan Mahmud II. Later he built a fortress near Banias. During an attack on the Lebanese valley of Wadi al-Taym, Bahram captured a local chief named Baraq ibn Jandal and tortured him to death. In retaliation, his brother killed Dahhak ibn Jandal Bahram in 1127.[40] Such was the fear and hatred of the assassins that the messenger who brought Bahram’s head and hands to Cairo was rewarded with a robe of honor. These fears were justified when the Caliph al-Amir bi-Ahkam Allah was murdered in court by ten assassins in 1130.[41]

The Ismaili response to the Seljuk invasion of 1126 was multifaceted. A new and powerful fortress was built at Maymundiz in Rudbar and new territories acquired. In the east, the Seljuk fortress of Sistan was attacked in 1129.[42] In the same year, Mahmud II, son of Muhammad I Tapar and Sultan of Isfahan, decided to ask for peace with Alamut.[43] Unfortunately, the Ismaili envoys to Mahmoud II were lynched by an angry mob after their audience with the Sultan. Kiya Buzurg Ummid’s request for the perpetrators to be punished was rejected. This led to an assassination attempt on Qazvin that killed 400 people in addition to a Turkish emir. A counterattack on Alamut was inconclusive.[44]

In Syria, the assassin leader Bahram was replaced by another mysterious Persian named Isma’il al-‘Ajami who, like Bahram, was assisted by al-Mazdaghani, the pro-Isma’ili vizier of Toghtekin. After the death of Toghtekin in 1128, his son and successor Taj a-Mulk Buri began ridding Damascus of assassins. Assisted by his military commander, Yusuf ibn Firuz, al-Mazdaghani was assassinated and his head publicly displayed. The Damascenes turned against the Assassins, leaving “hounds barking and fighting over their limbs and corpses”. At least 6000 assassins died and the rest, including Isma’il (who had handed Banias over to the Franks), fled to Frankish territory. Isma’il was killed in 1130, temporarily disabling the Assassins’ Syrian mission. Despite this, Alamut organized a counterattack with two Persian assassins disguised as Turkish soldiers who crushed Buri in 1131. The assassins were hacked to pieces by Buri’s guards, and he died of his wounds the following year.

Mahmud II died in 1131 and his brother Ghiyath ad-Din Mas’ud (Mas’ud) was recognized as his successor by the Abbasid caliph al-Mustarshid.[47] The succession was contested by Mahmud’s son and other brothers, and al-Mustarshid was drawn into the conflict. Caliph al-Mustarshid was captured by Seljuk forces near Hamadan in 1135 and pardoned on condition that he abdicate. While studying the Koran in his tent, he was murdered by a large group of assassins. Some have suggested that Mas’ud and even Ahmad Sanjar were complicit, but the chronicles of contemporary Arab historians ibn al-Athir and ibn al-Jawzi do not confirm this. The Isma’ilis commemorated the death of the caliph with seven days and nights of celebration.[48]

The reign of Buzurg Ummid ended with his death in 1138, which gives a relatively small list of assassinations.[49] He was succeeded by his son Muhammad Buzurg Ummid, sometimes referred to as Kiya Muhammad.[50]

The Abbasid celebrations of the death of the assassin leader Buzurg Ummid were short-lived. The son and successor of the Assassins’ last high-profile victim, al-Mustarshid, was ar-Rashid. Ar-Rashid was deposed by his uncle al-Muqtafi in 1136 and assassinated by assassins while recovering from an illness in Isfahan. The induction of a second caliph into the so-called “roll of honor” of the Assassins as a victim prompted another week of celebrations in Alamut. Another significant achievement was the assassination of Mahmud II’s son, Da’ud, who ruled in Azerbaijan and Jibal. Da’ud was felled in Tabriz in 1143 by four assassins, said to have been sent by Zengi, Atabeg of Mosul.[51][52]

The decades following the assassination of al-Mustarshid showed an expansion of the Assassins’ strongholds at Jabal Bahrā’, northwest of their Syrian strongholds at Jabal as-Summaq. In 1132, Saif al-Mulk ibn Amrun, Emir of al-Kahf, recaptured from the Franks the fortress of al-Qadmus known to them as Bokabeis. He then sold the fortress to the Assassins in 1133. This was followed in 1138 by the surrender of al-Kahf Castle itself to Assassin control by Saif’s son Musa amid a struggle for succession. These were followed by the acquisition of the castle of Masyaf in 1140 and Qala’at al-Khawabi, known to the Crusaders as La Coible, in 1141.[53]

Relatively little is recorded of Assassin activity during this period leading up to the Second Crusade. In 1149, an assassin named Ali ibn-Wafa allied himself with Raymond of Poitiers, son of William IX. of Aquitaine to defend the borders of the Principality of Antioch against Zengid expansion. The forces met at the Battle of Inab, with Zengi’s son and heir Nur ad-Din defeating the Franks, killing both Raymond and ibn-Wafa. Nur ad-Din would thwart the Assassins again in 1158 by incorporating into his territory a castle at Shaizar that they had occupied after the 1157 earthquake. Two assassinations are known from this period. In a revenge attack, Dahhak ibn Jandal, the Wadi al-Taym chief who had killed the assassin da’i Bahram in 1127, died by an assassin’s blade in 1149. Some years later, in 1152, possibly in retaliation for the establishment of the Knights Templar in Tartus, Raymond II, Count of Tripoli, was killed by assassins. This was the first known Christian sacrifice.[55]

Hassan II and Rashid ad-Din Sinan[ edit ]

The fourteen known assassinations during the reign of Kiya Muhammad were a far cry from the record of his predecessors and represented a significant decline in the power of the Isma’ilis. This was exemplified by the governors of Mazandaran and Rayy, who are said to have built towers from Isma’ili skulls. That was to change with the rise of Ḥasan ʿAlā Zikrihis Salam, known as Hassan II, in 1162, the first to be recognized as an imam.[56][57]

In the middle of Ramadan in the year 559 AH, Hassan II gathered his followers and announced to the “djinn, men and angels” that the hidden Imam had freed them “from the burden of the rules of the Holy Law”. In doing so, those gathered took part in a ritual transgression of Sharia, a banquet of wine, in violation of the fast of Ramadan, with their backs to Medina.[58] Compliance with Islamic rites (fasting, salad prayer, etc.) was severely punished. (According to Shi’a hadith, when the hidden Imam/Mahdi reappears, he will “bring a new religion, a new book and a new law”).[59] The resistance was still great and Hasan was stabbed to death by his own brother-in-law.[60]

Hassan II shifted the focus of his followers from the exoteric to the esoteric (batin). He traced his genealogy to the Fatimid Imams and Imam Nizar, which the da’is of Alamut confirmed as they were the ones in contact with the Imam.[61] He abolished the exoteric practice of Sharia and emphasized the esoteric (batini) side of the laws. And “although outwardly known as Buurgumid’s grandson,” Lewis writes, in this esoteric reality Hasan claimed “he was the Imam of the time” (the last Imam of Shia Islam before the end of the world).[62] The implications of this Changes in Isma’ili life and politics were enormous and continued after the death of Hassan II in 1166 by his son Nur al-Din Muhammad, known as Imam Muhammad II, who reigned from 1166 to 1210. It is in this context and the changes in the Muslim world caused by the collapse of the Seljuk Empire that a new chief da’i of the Assassins was installed: Rashid ad-Din Sinan, called Sinān[63]

Rashid ad-Din Sinan, an alchemist and schoolmaster, was sent to Syria by Hassan II as an ambassador of his Islamic views and to continue the Assassins’ mission. Known as the greatest of the Assassin chiefs, Sinān established his headquarters first in the castle of al-Kahf and then in the fortress of Masyaf. At al-Kahf he worked with chief da’i Abu-Muhammad, who was succeeded at his death by Khwaja Ali ibn Mas’ud without permission from Alamut. Khwaja was assassinated by Abu-Muhammad’s nephew, Abu Mansur, which led to Alamut regaining control.[64] After seven years at al-Kahf, Sinān assumed this role, operating independently of and feared by Alamut and moving the capital to Masyaf. Among his first tasks were the renovation of the fortress of ar-Rusafa and of Qala’at al-Khawabi and the construction of a tower at the citadel of the latter. Sinān also captured the castle of al-‘Ullaiqah in Aleika, near Tartus.[65]

One of the first tasks Sinān faced was the continuing threat of Nur ad-Din as well as the presence of the Knights Templar in Tartus. In 1173, Sinān Amalric of Jerusalem proposed an alliance against Nur ad-Din in exchange for lifting the tribute imposed on the Assassin villages near Tartus. The Assassins’ envoys to the king were ambushed and killed by a Knight Templar named Walter du Mesnil while returning from their negotiations near Tripoli, an act apparently sanctioned by the Grand Master Odo de Saint Amand. Amalric demanded the knight’s surrender, but Odo refused, claiming that only the Pope had the authority to punish du Mesnil. Amalric had du Mesnil kidnapped and imprisoned in Tyre. Sinān accepted the king’s apology and assured that justice had been done. Der Sinn des Bündnisses wurde strittig, als sowohl Nur ad-Din als auch Amalric bald darauf eines natürlichen Todes starben.[66]

Diese Entwicklungen hätten nicht besser sein können für Saladin, der über Ägypten hinaus nach Jerusalem und Syrien expandieren wollte und zunächst Damaskus einnahm. Während das Königreich Jerusalem von dem 13-jährigen aussätzigen Baldwin IV und Syrien von dem 11-jährigen as-Salih Ismail al-Malik, dem Sohn von Nur ad-Din, geführt wurde, setzte er seinen Feldzug in Syrien fort und zog gegen Aleppo vor. Während der Belagerung von Aleppo Ende 1174 oder Anfang 1175 wurde das Lager von Saladin von Assassinen infiltriert, die von Sinān und As-Salihs Regent Gümüshtigin geschickt wurden. Nasih al-Din Khumartekin, Emir von Abu Qubays, wurde bei dem Angriff getötet, der Saladin unversehrt ließ. Im nächsten Jahr, nachdem sie Azaz eingenommen hatten, schlugen Attentäter erneut zu und verwundeten Saladin. Gümüshtigin soll erneut an dem Attentat beteiligt gewesen sein. Als er seine Aufmerksamkeit auf Aleppo richtete, wurde die Stadt bald erobert und Saladin erlaubte as-Salih und Gümüshtigin, weiterhin zu regieren, aber unter seiner Souveränität. Saladin wandte seine Aufmerksamkeit dann wieder den Assassinen zu und belagerte Masyaf im Jahr 1176. Da er die Festung nicht erobern konnte, entschied er sich für einen Waffenstillstand. Es wurden Berichte über eine mystische Begegnung zwischen Saladin und Sinān angeboten:

Saladin ließ seine Wachen mit Verbindungslichtern ausstatten und hatte Kreide und Asche um sein Zelt außerhalb von Masyaf – das er belagerte – gestreut, um alle Schritte der Assassinen zu erkennen.[69] Nach dieser Version bemerkten Saladins Wachen eines Nachts einen Funken, der den Hügel von Masyaf hinunterglühte und dann zwischen den Ayyubid-Zelten verschwand. Als Saladin plötzlich aufwachte, sah er eine Gestalt, die das Zelt verließ. Er sah, dass die Lampen verschoben waren, und neben seinem Bett lagen heiße Scones in der Form, die den Assassinen eigen war, mit einer Notiz oben, die von einem vergifteten Dolch festgehalten wurde. Die Notiz drohte, dass er getötet würde, wenn er sich nicht von seinem Angriff zurückziehe. Saladin stieß einen lauten Schrei aus und rief aus, dass Sinan selbst die Gestalt sei, die das Zelt verlassen habe.[8][69]

Eine andere Version behauptet, Saladin habe seine Truppen hastig aus Masyaf abgezogen, weil sie dringend benötigt würden, um eine Kreuzfahrertruppe in der Nähe des Libanongebirges abzuwehren. In Wirklichkeit versuchte Saladin, ein Bündnis mit Sinan und seinen Assassinen zu schließen, und beraubte die Kreuzfahrer folglich eines mächtigen Verbündeten gegen ihn.[69] Saladin und Sinan betrachteten die Vertreibung der Kreuzritter als gegenseitigen Nutzen und Priorität und pflegten danach kooperative Beziehungen, wobei letzterer Kontingente seiner Streitkräfte entsandte, um Saladins Armee in einer Reihe entscheidender nachfolgender Schlachtfronten zu stärken.

Bis 1177 ging der Konflikt zwischen Sinān und as-Salih mit der Ermordung von Shihab ad-Din abu-Salih, Wesir sowohl von as-Salih als auch von Nur ad-Din, weiter. Ein Brief von as-Salih an Sinān, der den Mord forderte, wurde von Gümüshtigin als Fälschung befunden, was zu seiner Entfernung führte. As-Salih eroberte das Dorf al-Hajira von den Assassinen und als Reaktion darauf brannten Sināns Anhänger den Marktplatz in Aleppo nieder.[71]

1190 war Isabella I. Königin von Jerusalem und der Dritte Kreuzzug hatte gerade begonnen. Als Tochter Amalrichs heiratete sie ihren ersten Ehemann Konrad von Montferrat, der durch Heirat König wurde, noch nicht gekrönt. Conrad war von königlichem Blut, der Cousin des Heiligen Römischen Kaisers Friedrich Barbarossa und Ludwigs VII. von Frankreich. Conrad war während der Belagerung von Tyrus im Jahr 1187, die von Saladin gestartet wurde, für Tyrus verantwortlich und verteidigte die Stadt erfolgreich. Guy of Lusignan, married to Isabella’s half-sister Sybilla of Jerusalem, was king of Jerusalem by right of marriage and had been captured by Saladin during the battle of Hattin in that same year, 1187. When Guy was released in 1188, he was denied entry to Tyre by Conrad and launched the siege of Acre in 1189. Queen Sybilla died of an epidemic sweeping her husband’s military camp in 1190, negating Guy’s claim to the throne and resulting in Isabella becoming queen.

Assassins disguised as Christian monks had infiltrated the bishopric of Tyre, gaining the confidence of both the archbishop Joscius and Conrad of Montferrat. There in 1192, they stabbed Conrad to death. The surviving Assassin is reputed to have named Richard I of England as the instigator, who had much to gain as demonstrated by the rapidity at which the widow married Henry II of Champagne. That account is disputed by ibn al-Athir[72] who names Saladin in a plot with Sinān to kill both Conrad and Richard. Richard I was captured by Leopold V, Duke of Austria, and held by Henry VI, who had become Holy Roman Emperor in 1191, accused of murder. Sinān wrote to Leopold V absolving Richard I of complicity in the plot. Regardless, Richard I was released in 1194 after England paid his ransom and the murder remains unsolved.[73][74] Adding to the continued cold case is the belief by modern historians that Sinan’s letter to Leopold V is a forgery, written by members of Richard I’s administration.[75]

Conrad was Sinān’s last assassination. The great Assassin Rashid ad-Din Sinan, the Old Man of the Mountain, died in 1193, the same year that claimed Saladin. He died of natural causes at al-Kahf Castle and was buried at Salamiyah, which had been a secret hub of Isma’ili activity in the 9th and 10th centuries. His successor was Nasr al-‘Ajami, under the control of Alamut, who reportedly met with emperor Henry VI in 1194.[76] Later successors through 1227 included Kamāl ad-Din al-Hasan and Majd ad-Din, again under the control of Alamut.[77] Saladin left his Ayyubid dynasty under his sons al-Aziz Uthman, sultan of Egypt, al-Afdal ibn Salah ad-Din, emir of Damascus, and az-Zahir Ghazi, emir of Aleppo. Al-Aziz died soon thereafter, replaced by Saladin’s brother al-Adil I.[78]

13th century [ edit ]

In 1210, Muhammad III died and his son Jalāl al-Din Hasan (known as Hassan III) became Imam of the Nizari Isma’ili State. His first actions included the return to the Islamic orthodoxy by practising Taqiyyah to ensure safety of the Ismailis in the hostile environment. He claimed allegiance to the Sunnis to protect himself and his followers from further persecution. He had a Sunni mother and four Sunni wives. Hassan III recognized the Abbasid caliph al-Nasir who in turn granted a diploma of investiture. The Alamuts had a previous history with al-Nasir, supplying Assassins to attack a Kwarezm representative of shah Ala ad-Din Tekish, but that was more of an action of convenience than formal alliance. Maintaining ties to western Christian influences, the Alamuts became tributaries to the Knights Hospitaller beginning at the Isma’ili stronghold Abu Qubays, near Margat.[79]

The count of Tripoli in 1213 was Bohemond IV, the fourth prince of Antioch of that name. That year his 18-year-old son Raymond, namesake of his grandfather, was murdered by the Assassins under Nasr al-‘Ajami while at church in Tartus. Suspecting both Assassin and Hospitaller involvement, Bohemond and the Knights Templar laid siege to Qala’at al-Khawabi, an Isma’ili stronghold near Tartus, Appealing to the Ayyubids for help, az-Zahir Ghazi dispatched a relief force from Aleppo. His forces were nearly destroyed at Jabal Bahra. Az-Zahir’s uncle al-Adil I, emir of Damascus, responded and the Franks ended the siege by 1216.[80][81] Bohemond IV would again fight the Ayyudibs in the Fifth Crusade.

Majd ad-Din was the new chief da’i in Syria in 1220, assuming that role from Kamāl ad-Din al-Hasan of whom very little is known. At that time the Seljuk sultanate of Rûm paid an annual tribute to Alamut, and Majd ad-Din notified the sultan Kayqubad I that henceforth the tribute was to be paid to him. Kayqubad I requested clarification from Hassan III who informed him that the monies had indeed been assigned to Syria.[82]

Hassan III died in 1221, likely from poisoning. He was succeeded by his 9-year-old son Imam ‘Alā ad-Din Muhammad, known as Muhammad III, and was the penultimate Isma’ili ruler of Alamut before the Mongol conquest. Because of his age, Hassan’s vizier served as regent to the young Imam, and put Hassan’s wives and sister to death for the suspected poisoning. Muhammad III reversed the Sunni course his father had set, returning to Shi’ite orthodoxy. His attempts to accommodate the advancing Mongols failed.[83]

In 1225, Frederick II was Holy Roman Emperor, a position his father Henry VI had held until 1197. He had committed to prosecuting the Sixth Crusade and married the heiress to the Kingdom of Jerusalem, Isabella II. The next year, the once and future king sent envoys to Majd ad-Din with significant gifts for the imam to ensure his safe passage. Khwarezm had collapsed under the Mongols, but many of the Kwarezmians still operated as mercenaries in northern Iraq. Under the pretense that the road to Alamut was unsafe due to these mercenaries, Majd ad-Din kept the gifts for himself, and provided the safe passage. As a precaution, Majd ad-Din informed al-Aziz Muhammad, emir of Aleppo and son of az-Zahir Ghazi, of the emperor’s embassy. In the end, Frederick did not complete that trip to the Holy Land due to illness, being excommunicated in 1227. The Knights Hospitaller were not as accommodating as Alamut, demanding their share of the tribute. When Majd ad-Din refused, the Hospitallers attacked and carried off the majority of the booty.[84][85] Majd ad-Din was succeeded by Sirāj ad-Din Muzaffa ibn al-Husain in 1227, serving as chief da’i until 1239.[86]

Taj ad-Din Abu’l-Futūh ibn Muhammad was chief da’i in Syria in 1239, succeeding Sirāj ad-Din Muzaffa. At this point, the Assassins were an integral part of Syrian politics. The Arab historian Ibn Wasil[87] had a friendship with Taj ad-Din and writes of Badr ad-Din, qadi of Sinjar, who sought refuge with Taj ad-Din to escape the wrath of Egyptian Ayyubid ruler as-Salih Ayyub. Taj ad-Din served until at least 1249 when he was replaced by Radi ad-Din Abu’l-Ma’āli.[82]

In that same year, Louis IX of France embarked on the Seventh Crusade in Egypt. He captured the port of Damietta from the aging al-Salih Ayyub which he refused to turn over to Conrad II, who had inherited the throne of Jerusalem from his parents Frederick II and Isabella II. The Frankish Crusaders were soundly defeated by Abu Futuh Baibars, then a commander in the Egyptian army, at the battle of al-Mansurah in 1250. Saint Louis, as Louis IX was known, was captured by the Egyptians and, after a handsome reward was paid, spent four years in Acre, Caesarea and Jaffa. One of the captives with Louis was Jean de Joinville,[88] biographer of the king, who reported the interaction of the monarch with the Assassins. While at Acre, emissaries of Radi ad-Din Abu’l-Ma’āli met with him, demanding a tribute be paid to their chief “as the emperor of Germany, the king of Hungary, the sultan of Egypt and the others because they know well they can only live as long as it please him.” Alternately, the king could pay the tribute the Assassins paid the Templars and Hospitallers. Later the king’s Arabic interpreter Yves the Breton met personally with Radi ad-Din and discussed the respective beliefs. Afterwards, the chief da’i went riding, with his valet proclaiming: “Make way before him who bears the death of kings in his hands!”[89][90]

The Egyptian victory at al-Mansurah led to the establishment of the Mamluk dynasty in Egypt. Muhammad III was murdered in 1255 and replaced by his son Rukn al-Din Khurshah, the last Imam to rule Alamut. Najm ad-Din later became chief da’i of the Assassins in Syria, the last to be associated with Alamut. Louis IX returned to north Africa during the Eighth Crusade where he died of natural causes in Tunis.[91]

Downfall and aftermath [ edit ]

View of Alamut besieged. The last Grand Master of the Assassins at Alamut Imam Rukn al-Din Khurshah (1255–1256) was executed by Hulagu Khan after a devastating siege

The Assassins suffered a significant blow at the hands of the Mongol Empire during the well-documented invasion of Khwarazm. A decree was handed over to the Mongol commander Kitbuqa who began to assault several Assassin fortresses in 1253 before Hulagu’s advance in 1256, seizing Alamut late that year. Lambsar fell in 1257, Masyaf in 1267. The Assassins recaptured and held Alamut for a few months in 1275, but they were crushed and their political power was lost forever. Rukn al-Din Khurshah was put to death shortly thereafter.[92]

Though the Mongol massacre at Alamut was widely interpreted to be the end of Isma’ili influence in the region, various sources say that the Isma’ilis’ political influence continued. In 674/1275, a son of Imam Rukn al-Din Khurshah managed to recapture Alamut, though only for a few years. The Nizari Imam, known in the sources as Khudawand Muhammad, again managed to recapture the fort in the fourteenth century. It is uncertain whether “Khudawand Muhammad” refers to Muhammad Shah b. Mu’min Shah of the Muhammad Shahi line of Nizari Imams, or Islam Shah b. Qasim Shah of the Qasim Shahi line. According to Mar’ashi, the Imam’s descendants would remain at Alamut until the late fifteenth century. Isma’ili political activity in the region also seems to have continued under the leadership of Sultan Muhammad b. Jahangir and his son, until the latter’s execution in 1006/1597.[93]

In Syria, the Assassins joined with other Muslim groups to oppose the Mongols and courted the Mamluks and Baibars. Baibars entered into a truce with the Hospitallers in 1266 and stipulated that the tribute paid by the Assassins be halted. The tribute once paid to the Franks was to come instead to Cairo. As early as 1260, Baibars’ biographer ibn Abd al-Zahir reported that he was granting Assassin lands in iqtâ’ to his generals, and in 1265 began to tax the “gifts” the Assassins received from various princes that apparently included Louis IX of France, Rudolph I of Germany, Alphonso X of Castile, and the Rasulid sultan of Yemen[94] al-Muzaffar Yusuf. The Syrian branch of the Assassins was taken over by Baibars by 1270, recognizing the threat of an independent force with his sultanate.[92]

Najm ad-Din was replaced by Baibars’ son-in-law Sarim al-Din Mubarak, governor of al-‘Ullaiqah in 1270. Sarim was soon deposed and sent as a prisoner to Cairo, and Najm ad-Din was restored at chief da’i at Masyaf. His son Shams ad-Din joined him in service, but owing a tribute to the sultan. The next year, in the midst of the siege of Tripoli, two Assassins were sent by Bohemond VI of Antioch, then Count of Tripoli, to murder his attacker Baibars. Shams ad-Din was arrested in the plot, but released when his father argued his case. The Isma’ili leaders were eventually implicated and agreed to surrender their castles and live at Baibars’ court. Najm ad-Din died in Cairo in 1274.[95]

In 1271, Baibars’ forces seized al-‘Ullaiqah and ar-Rusafa, after taking Masyaf the year before. Later in the year, Shams ad-Din surrendered and was deported to Egypt. Qala’at al-Khawabi fell that year and within two years Gerdkuh and all of the Assassin fortresses were held by the sultan. With the Assassins under his control, Baibars was able to use them to counter the forces arriving in the Ninth Crusade. The sultan threatened Bohemond VI, and the Assassins attacked future king Edward I of England unsuccessfully.[96]

The last known victim of the Assassins was Philip of Montfort, lord of Tyre, long an enemy of Baibars. Philip helped negotiate the truce following the capture of Damietta by Louis IX and had lost the castle at Toron to Baibars in 1266. Despite his advanced age, Philip was murdered by Baibars’ Assassins in 1270.[96]

The last of the Assassin strongholds was al-Kahf in 1273. The Mamluks continued to use the services of the remaining Assassins and the 14th-century scholar ibn Battuta reported their fixed rate of pay per murder, with his children getting the fee if the Assassin did not survive the attack. There are, nevertheless, no recorded instances of Assassin activity after the later 13th century. They unremarkably settled near Salamiyah, with a still-large Isma’ili population that recognizes the Aga Khan as their Imam.[97]

Etymology[ edit ]

The word asas in Arabic means “principle”. The Asāsiyyūn (plural, from literary Arabic) were, as defined in Arabic, the principle people. The term “assassin” likely has roots in hashshāshīn (“hashish smokers or users”), a mispronunciation of the original Asāsiyyūn, but not a mispronunciation of Assasiyeen (pronounced “Asāsiyyeen”, the plural of “Asasi”). Originally referring to the methods of political control exercised by the Assasiyuun, one can see how it became “assassin” in several languages to describe similar activities anywhere.

The Assassins were finally linked by the 19th-century orientalist Silvestre de Sacy to the Arabic word hashish using their variant names assassin and assissini in the 19th century. Citing the example of one of the first written applications of the Arabic term hashish to the Ismailis by 13th-century historian Abu Shama, de Sacy demonstrated its connection to the name given to the Ismailis throughout Western scholarship.[98] The first known usage of the term hashishi has been traced back to 1122 when the Fatimid caliph al-Amir bi-Ahkami’l-Lah, himself later assassinated, employed it in derogatory reference to the Syrian Nizaris.[98] Used figuratively, the term hashishi connoted meanings such as outcasts or rabble.[98] Without actually accusing the group of using the hashish drug, the caliph used the term in a pejorative manner. This label was quickly adopted by anti-Isma’ili historians and applied to the Isma’ilis of Syria and Persia. 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. To Crusaders, the Fedayeen concept of valuing a principle above your own life was alien to them, so they rationalized it using myths such as the ‘paradise legend’, the ‘leap of faith’ legend, and the ‘hashish legend’, sewn together in the writings of Marco Polo.[99]

During the medieval period, Western scholarship on the Isma’ilis 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, European scholarship on the topic had not advanced much beyond the work and tales from the Crusaders.[98] The origins of the word forgotten, across Europe the term assassin had taken the meaning of “professional murderer”.[98] In 1603, the first Western publication on the topic of the Assassins was authored by a court official for King Henry IV of France and was mainly based on the narratives of Marco Polo from his visits to the Near East. While he assembled the accounts of many Western travellers, the author failed to explain the etymology of the term Assassin.[100]

According to the Lebanese writer Amin Maalouf, based on texts from Alamut, Hassan-i Sabbah tended to call his disciples Asāsīyūn (أساسيون, meaning “people who are faithful to the foundation [of the faith]”), and derivation from the term hashish is a misunderstanding by foreign travelers.[101]

Another modern author, Edward Burman, states that:

Many scholars have argued, and demonstrated convincingly, that the attribution of the epithet “hashish eaters” or “hashish takers” is a misnomer derived from enemies of the Isma’ilis and was never used by Muslim chroniclers or sources. It was therefore used in a pejorative sense of “enemies” or “disreputable people”. This sense of the term survived into modern times with the common Egyptian usage of the term Hashasheen in the 1930s to mean simply “noisy or riotous”. It is unlikely that the austere Hassan-i Sabbah indulged personally in drug taking … there is no mention of that drug hashish in connection with the Persian Assassins – especially in the library of Alamut (“the secret archives”).[102]

The name “Assassin” is often said to derive from the Arabic word Hashishin or “users of hashish”,[6] which was originally applied to the Nizari Isma’ilis by the rival Mustali Isma’ilis during the fall of the Isma’ili Fatimid Empire and the separation of the two Isma’ili streams.[7] There is little evidence hashish was used to motivate the Assassins, contrary to the beliefs of their Medieval enemies.[8] It is possible that the term hashishiyya or hashishi in Arabic sources was used metaphorically in its abusive sense relating to use of hashish, which due to its effects on the mind state, is outlawed in Islam. Modern versions of this word include Mahashish used in the same derogatory sense, albeit less offensive nowadays, as the use of the substance is more widespread.[citation needed] The term hashashin was (and still is) used to describe absent minded criminals and is used derogatorily in all the Muslim sources referring to the Nizaris as such.[103]

Idries Shah, a Sufi scholar using Arkon Daraul as a pen name, described them as ‘druggers’ that used hashish “in stupefying candidates for the ephemeral visit to paradise”.[104]

The Sunni Muslims also used the term mulhid to refer to the Assassins, which is also recorded by the traveller and Franciscan William of Rubruck as mulidet.[105]

Military tactics [ edit ]

“They call him Shaykh-al-Hashishin. He is their Elder, and upon his command all of the men of the mountain come out or go in … they are believers of the word of their elder and everyone everywhere fears them, because they even kill kings.” —Benjamin of Tudela

In pursuit of their religious and political goals, the Isma’ilis adopted various military strategies popular in the Middle Ages. One such method was that of assassination, the selective elimination of prominent rival figures. The murders of political adversaries were usually carried out in public spaces, creating resounding intimidation for other possible enemies.[106] Throughout history, many groups have resorted to assassination as a means of achieving political ends. The assassinations were committed against those whose elimination would most greatly reduce aggression against the Ismailis and, in particular, against those who had perpetrated massacres against the community. A single assassination was usually employed in contrast with the widespread bloodshed which generally resulted from factional combat. Assassins are also said to be have been adept in furusiyya, or the Islamic warrior code, where they were trained in combat, disguises, and equestrianism.[citation needed] Codes of conduct were followed, and the Assassins were taught in the art of war, linguistics, and strategies. For about two centuries, the Assassins specialized in assassinating their religious and political enemies.[25]

While the Seljuks and Crusaders both employed murder as a military means of disposing of factional enemies, during the Alamut period almost any murder of political significance in the Islamic lands was attributed to the Isma’ilis.[106] So inflated had this association grown that, in the work of orientalists such as Bernard Lewis, the Isma’ilis were equated with the politically active fida’is and thus were regarded as a radical and heretical sect known as the Assassins.[107]

The military approach of the Nizari Isma’ili state was largely a defensive one, with strategically chosen sites that appeared to avoid confrontation wherever possible without the loss of life.[108] But the defining characteristic of the Nizari Isma’ili state was that it was scattered geographically throughout Persia and Syria. Alamut Castle therefore was only one of a nexus of strongholds throughout the regions where Isma’ilis could retreat to safety if necessary. West of Alamut in the Shahrud Valley, the major fortress of Lambsar served as just one example of such a retreat. In the context of their political uprising, the various spaces of Isma’ili military presence took on the name dar al-hijra (دار الهجرة; land of migration, place of refuge). The notion of the dar al-hijra originates from the time of Muhammad, who migrated with his followers from persecution to a safe haven in Yathrib (Medina).[109] In this way, the Fatimids found their dar al-hijra in North Africa. From 1101 to 1118, attacks and sieges were made on the fortresses, conducted by combined forces of the Seljuks Barkiyaruq and Ahmad Sanjar. Although with the cost of lives and the capture and execution of Assassin da’i Ahmad ibn Attash, the Assassins managed to hold their ground and repel the attacks until the Mongol invasion.[110] Likewise, during the revolt against the Seljuks, several fortresses served as spaces of refuge for the Isma’ilis.

14th-century painting of the successful assassination of Nizam al-Mulk , vizier of the Seljuk Empire, by an Assassin. It is often considered their most significant assassination.

Marco Polo recounts the following method how the Hashashin were recruited for jihad and assassinations on behalf of their master in Alamut:

“He was named Alo−eddin, and his religion was that of Mahomet. In a beautiful valley enclosed between two lofty mountains, he had formed a luxurious garden, stored with every delicious fruit and every fragrant shrub that could be procured. Palaces of various sizes and forms were erected in different parts of the grounds, ornamented with works in gold, with paintings, and with furniture of rich silks. By means of small conduits contrived in these buildings, streams of wine, milk, honey, and some of pure water, were seen to flow in every direction. The inhabitants of these palaces were elegant and beautiful damsels, accomplished in the arts of singing, playing upon all sorts of musical instruments, dancing, and especially those of dalliance and amorous allurement. Clothed in rich dresses they were seen continually sporting and amusing themselves in the garden and pavilions, their female guardians being confined within doors and never suffered to appear. The object which the chief had in view in forming a garden of this fascinating kind, was this: that Mahomet having promised to those who should obey his will the enjoyments of Paradise, where every species of sensual gratification should be found, in the society of beautiful nymphs, he was desirous of its being understood by his followers that he also was a prophet and the compeer of Mahomet, and had the power of admitting to Paradise such as he should choose to favor. In order that none without his licence might find their way into this delicious valley, he caused a strong and inexpugnable castle to be erected at the opening of it, through which the entry was by a secret passage. At his court, likewise, this chief entertained a number of youths, from the age of twelve to twenty years, selected from the inhabitants of the surrounding mountains, who showed a disposition for martial exercises, and appeared to possess the quality of daring courage. To them he was in the daily practice of discoursing on the subject of the paradise announced by the prophet, and of his own power of granting admission; and at certain times he caused opium to be administered to ten or a dozen of the youths; and when half dead with sleep he had them conveyed to the several apartments of the palaces in the garden. Upon awakening from this state of lethargy, their senses were struck with all the delightful objects that have been described, and each perceived himself surrounded by lovely damsels, singing, playing, and attracting his regards by the most fascinating caresses, serving him also with delicate viands and exquisite wines; until intoxicated with excess of enjoyment amidst actual rivulets of milk and wine, he believed himself assuredly in Paradise, and felt an unwillingness to relinquish its delights. When four or five days had thus been passed, they were thrown once more into a state of somnolency, and carried out of the garden. Upon their being introduced to his presence, and questioned by him as to where they had been, their answer was, “In Paradise, through the favor of your highness:” and then before the whole court, who listened to them with eager curiosity and astonishment, they gave a circumstantial account of the scenes to which they had been witnesses. The chief thereupon addressing them, said: “We have the assurances of our prophet that he who defends his lord shall inherit Paradise, and if you show yourselves devoted to the obedience of my orders, that happy lot awaits you.” Animated to enthusiasm by words of this nature, all deemed themselves happy to receive the commands of their master, and were forward to die in his service. 5 The consequence of this system was, that when any of the neighboring princes, or others, gave umbrage to this chief, they were put to death by these his disciplined assassins; none of whom felt terror at the risk of losing their own lives, which they held in little estimation, provided they could execute their master’s will.”[111]

However , these methods described by Marco Polo are far from the truth (explained in the below section). It is believed by the Ismailis that the Fida’is were recruited for Jihad as it was a tenet of their faith (like other Muslims) and for their love of the Imam (Walayah).[7]

During the mid-12th century the Assassins captured or acquired several fortresses in the Nusayriyah Mountain Range in coastal Syria, including Masyaf, Rusafa, al-Kahf, al-Qadmus, Khawabi, Sarmin, Quliya, Ulayqa, Maniqa, and Abu Qubays. For the most part, the Assassins maintained full control over these fortresses until 1270–1273 when the Mamluk sultan Baibars annexed them. Most were dismantled afterwards, while those at Masyaf and Ulayqa were later rebuilt.[112] From then on, the Ismailis maintained limited autonomy over those former strongholds as loyal subjects of the Mamluks.[113]

Their subjection and obedience to him [Old Man of the Mountain] is such that they regard nothing as too harsh or difficult and eagerly undertake even the most dangerous tasks at his command. … if there happens to be a prince who has incurred the hatred or distrust of this people, the chief places a dagger in the hand of one or several of his followers; those thus designated hasten away at once, regardless of the consequences of the deed or the probability of personal escape. William of Tyre, A history of deeds done beyond the sea, edited by Austin P. Evans, Volume II, Book XX, XXIX

Legends and folklore [ edit ]

The term assassin, which appeared in European languages in a variety of forms (e.g., assassini, assissini, and heyssisini), was evidently based on variants of the Arabic word hashishi (pl. hashishiyya, hashishin). The latter was applied by other Muslims to Nizaris in the pejorative sense of “low-class rabble” or “people of lax morality,” without any derivative explanation reflecting any special connection between the Nizaris and hashish,[citation needed] a product of cannabis. This term of abuse was picked up locally in Syria by the Crusaders and European travelers and adopted as the designation of the Nizari Ismailis. Subsequently, after the etymology of the term had been forgotten, it came to be used in Europe as a noun meaning “murderer.” Thus, a misnomer rooted in abuse eventually resulted in a new word, assassin, in European languages.

Medieval Europeans—and especially the Crusaders—who remained ignorant of Islam as a religion and of its internal divisions were also responsible for fabricating and disseminating (in the Latin Orient as well as in Europe) a number of interconnected legends about the secret practices of the Nizaris, the so-called “assassin legends.” In particular, the legends sought to provide a rational explanation for the seemingly irrational self-sacrificing behavior of the Nizari fida’is; as such, they revolved around the recruitment and training of the youthful devotees. The legends developed in stages from the time of Sinan and throughout the thirteenth century. Soon, the seemingly blind obedience of the fida’is to their leader was attributed, by their occidental observers, to the influence of an intoxicating drug like hashish. There is no evidence that suggests that hashish or any other drug was used in any systematic fashion to motivate the fida’is; contemporary non-Ismaili Muslim sources that are generally hostile toward the Ismailis remain silent on this subject. In all probability, it was the abusive name hashishi that gave rise to the imaginative tales disseminated by the Crusaders.[114]

In the light of these findings, this study contends that the Assassin legends, especially those based on the hashish connection and the secret ‘garden of paradise’, were actually fabricated and put into circulation by Europeans. It seems that the occidental observers of the Nizari Ismailis, especially those who were least informed about Islam and the Near East, generated these legends (initially in reference to the Syrian Nizaris) gradually and systematically, adding further components or embellishments in successive stages during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. In this process, the westerners, who in the Crusaders’ times had a high disposition towards imaginative and romantic eastern tales, were greatly influenced by the biases and the general hostility of the non-Ismaili Muslims towards the Ismailis, hostility which had earlier given rise to the anti-Ismaili ‘black legend’ of the Sunni polemicists as well as some popular misconceptions about the Ismailis.

In all probability, such popular misconceptions also circulated about the Nizaris in the non-literary local circles of the Latin East during the Crusaders’ times; they would have been picked up by the Crusaders through their contact with rural Muslims working on their estates and the lesser educated Muslims of the towns, in addition to whatever information they could gather indirectly through the oriental Christians. In this connection, it is significant to note that similar legends have not been found in any of the mediaeval Islamic sources, including contemporary histories of Syria. Indeed, educated Muslims, including their historians, did not fantasise at all about the secret practices of the Nizaris, even though they were hostile towards them. Similarly, those few well-informed occidental observers of the Syrian Nizaris, such as William of Tyre, who lived in the Latin East for long periods, did not contribute to the formation of the Assassin legends.[114][8]

In Sum, it seems that the legends in question, though ultimately rooted in some popular lore and misinformation circulating locally, were actually formulated and transmitted rather widely due to their sensational appeal by the Crusaders and other western observers of the Nizaris; and they do, essentially, represent the ‘imaginative constructions’ of these uninformed observers

The legends of the Assassins had much to do with the training and instruction of Nizari fida’is, famed for their public missions during which they often gave their lives to eliminate adversaries. Some historians have contributed to the tales of fida’is being fed with hashish as part of their training, but these are only, in reference, to the travels of Marco Polo and Polemics by enemies.[115] Scholars including Vladimir Ivanov purport that the assassinations of key figures including Seljuk vizier Nizam al-Mulk likely provided encouraging impetus to others in the community who sought to secure the Nizaris’ protection from political aggression.[115] Originally, a “local and popular term” first applied to the Isma’ilis of Syria, the label was orally transmitted to Western historians and thus found itself in their histories of the Nizaris.[109]

It is unknown how Hassan-i-Sabbah was able to get the Assassins to perform with such fervent loyalty. One theory, possibly the best known but also the most criticized, comes from the reports of Marco Polo during his travels to the Orient. He recounts a story he heard of a man who would drug his young followers with hashish, lead them to a “paradise”, and then claim that only he had the means to allow for their return. Perceiving that Sabbah was either a prophet or magician, his disciples, believing that only he could return them to “paradise”, were fully committed to his cause and willing to carry out his every request.[116] However, this story is disputed [114] because Sabbah died in 1124 and Rashid ad-Din Sinan, who is frequently known as the “Old Man of the Mountain”, died in 1192, whereas Marco Polo was not born until around 1254.[117][118]

The tales of the fida’is’ training collected from anti-Ismaili historians and orientalist writers were compounded and compiled in Marco Polo’s account, in which he described a “secret garden of paradise”.[119] After being drugged, the Ismaili devotees were said to be taken to a paradise-like garden filled with attractive young maidens and beautiful plants in which these fida’is would awaken. Here, they were told by an “old” man that they were witnessing their place in Paradise and that should they wish to return to this garden permanently, they must serve the Nizari cause.[109] So went the tale of the “Old Man in the Mountain”, assembled by Marco Polo and accepted by Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall, an 18th-century Austrian orientalist writer responsible for much of the spread of this legend. Until the 1930s, von Hammer’s retelling of the Assassin legends served as the standard account of the Nizaris across Europe.[119]

A well-known legend tells how Count Henry II of Champagne, returning from Armenia, spoke with Grand Master Rashid ad-Din Sinan at al-Kahf. The count claimed to have the most powerful army and at any moment he claimed he could defeat the Hashashin, because his army was 10 times larger. Rashid replied that his army was instead the most powerful, and to prove it he told one of his men to jump off from the top of the castle in which they were staying. The man did. Surprised, the count immediately recognized that Rashid’s army was indeed the strongest, because it did everything at his command, and Rashid further gained the count’s respect.[120]

The Ismaili were part of the Durbar of the Moghul Empire, with high-ranking members of their community called Khoja. Their community including the other communities of the Muslims of South Asia had become leaderless after the year 1857 when the Mughal Empire was abolished.

The Ismaili began settling in Bombay when the British Raj had established itself.

Modern works on the Nizaris have elucidated their history and, in doing so, dispelled popular histories from the past as mere legends. In 1933, under the direction of the Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah, Aga Khan III, the Islamic Research Association was developed. Historian Vladimir Ivanov was central to both this institution and the 1946 Ismaili Society of Bombay. Cataloguing a number of Ismaili texts, Ivanov provided the ground for great strides in modern Isma’ili scholarship.[121]

Ismaili leaders would later support the cause of Pakistan during the partition and have a considerable presence in that country.

In recent years, Peter Willey has provided interesting evidence that goes against the Assassin folklore of earlier scholars. Drawing on its established esoteric doctrine, Willey asserts that the Ismaili understanding of Paradise is a deeply symbolic one. While the Qur’anic description of Heaven includes natural imagery, Willey argues that no Nizari fida’i would seriously believe that he was witnessing Paradise simply by awakening in a beauteous garden.[122] The Nizaris’ symbolic interpretation of the Qur’anic description of Paradise serves as evidence against the possibility of such an exotic garden used as motivation for the devotees to carry out their armed missions. Furthermore, Willey points out that a courtier of Hulagu Khan, Juvayni, surveyed the Alamut castle just before the Mongol invasion. In his reports about the fortress, there are elaborate descriptions of sophisticated storage facilities and the famous Alamut library. However, even this anti-Ismaili historian makes no mention of the gardens on the Alamut grounds.[122] Having destroyed a number of texts in the library’s collection, deemed by Juvayni to be heretical, it would be expected that he would pay significant attention to the Nizari gardens, particularly if they were the site of drug use and temptation. Having not once mentioned such gardens, Willey concludes that there is no sound evidence in favor of these legends.[70]

According to the historian Yaqut al-Hamawi, the Böszörmény, (Izmaleita or Ismaili/Nizari) denomination of Muslims who lived in the Kingdom of Hungary from the 10th to the 13th centuries, were employed as mercenaries by the kings of Hungary. However, following the establishment of the Christian Kingdom of Hungary, their community was vanquished by the end of the 13th century due to the Inquisitions ordered by the Catholic Church during the reign of Coloman, King of Hungary. It is said that the Assassins are the ancestors of those given the surname Hajaly, derived from the word “hajal”, a rare species of bird found in the mountains of Syria near Masyaf. The hajal (bird) was often used as a symbol of the Assassin’s order.[citation needed]

In popular culture[edit]

The Assassins were part of Medieval culture, and they were either demonized or romanticized. The Hashashin frequently appeared in the art and literature of the Middle Ages, sometimes, they were portrayed as one of the knight’s archenemies and they were also portrayed as a quintessential villain during the crusades.[123]

The word Assassin, in variant forms, had already passed into European usage as a term for a hired professional murderer in this general sense. The Italian chronicler Giovanni Villani, who died in 1348, tells how the lord of Lucca sent ‘his assassins’ (i suoi assassini) to Pisa to kill a troublesome enemy there. Even earlier, Dante, in a passing reference in the 19th canto of the Inferno, completed in 1320, speaks of ‘the treacherous assassin’ (lo perfido assassin); his fourteenth-century commentator Francesco da Buti, explaining a term which for some readers at the time may still have been strange and obscure, remarks: ‘Assassino è colui che uccide altrui per danari’ (An assassin is one who kills others for money).[124]

The most widespread awareness of the Assassins in modern Europe, and their incorporation into the Romantic tradition, was created by the Austrian historian and Orientalist Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall in his 1818 book, Die Geschichte der Assassinen aus morgenländischen Quellen[125] (translated into English in 1835 as The History of the Assassins[126]). This work was the standard one on the history of the Assassins in the West until the 1930s.

The Assassins appear in many role-playing games and video games, especially in massively multiplayer online games. The assassin character class is a common feature of many such games, usually specializing in single combat and stealth skills, often combined in order to defeat an opponent without exposing the assassin to counter-attack.

See also[edit]

Notes [edit]

References[ edit ]

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