okay the term assasins come from th epopular (but not necessarily true) assersion that the smoked hashish, therefore the hashishan or something.

Lets see I just read a book on them but my mind is drawing a blank right now...

Part of the Ismaili sect of Islam they were founded by Hasan i Sabah and eventually this "dynastic " line came to think of themselves as the successor to the prophet, some of whom meant that Islamic law no longer mattered and let their followers be pretty hedonistic, others tried to make hte movement more mainstream.

They lived in mountain fortresses and assasinated alot of Seljuk dudes, ususally with a lone assasin is disgiuse with a dagger.  Not usually very popular and unfreindly towards most conventional nations eventually the Mongols under Huleugu destroyed their Persian branch, though later Baybars got rid of the ones in Syria.

The book I was reading is called " The Devil's Crown: a history of HenryII and his son's" By Richard Barber and all he says is They are a military order similar to the Templars bound to obedience to their master who was Sheikh Sian at the time in question.They held the mountianous region to the northwest of Persia and murdering their political opponants was thier specialty. They where apposed to ordinary moslims and christians and did not regard murder as a crime they hired themseves out to kill people. He also says that they pobably killed Conrad of Montferrat and not nessassarly at Richard's disire.  

It is true that the hashasiyyun were a militant religious order which was tied to the Ismaili sect. They operated out of their mountain fortress stronghold (Alamut) as a political terror group, as explained by others.

I think the legends about them (that they smoke hashish and the paradise fantasies) are made up by their enemies. They were more likely to be a militant order with strict rules- in a way similar to the Templars.  

They disappeared after Alamut fell to the Mongols, IIRC.

As I said in HG Alamut was really an unconquerable castle!

The castle is built on a narrow ridge on top of a high rock in the heart of the mountains and dominating an enclosed valley, about 25 kilometres in length. More than 6,000 feet above sea level, the castle lies several hundred feet above the base of the rock, and could only be reached by a narrow, steep and winding path. The approach to the rock was through the narrow gorge of the Alamut river, between perpendicular and sometimes overhanging cliffs. The steep defile at the western entrance to the valley is also defended by two forts constructed on each side of the 350 metres high cliffs. The eastern end of the valley is completely blocked by the Alamkum/Takht-e-Suleyman mountain knot. To the north and south are mountain ranges up to 3,500 metres. Hasan-i- Sabbah deliberately chose the Alamut Valley as his headquarters because of its remoteness and inaccessibility.

Alamut Gorge

Cwyr, they also called themselves the Holy Slayers of al-Kalim. Or as well the Ismailieh.

Dawn,  Hasan-i Sabbah by some clever command, attainted the great fortress in Qazvin, in northwestern Iran. The fortress was then known as Alamut or meaning, "Eagle's Nest". This was aqquirred sometime in the early 12th century.

There was a group of Assasssins that tried to kill Saladin, twice, but never suceeded (Obviously, if he lived until natural death). I know I have that city written down somewhere, but he never took it, and eventually just gave up.

Hi there,

I think it was Dari that mentioned that some of his family on his mothers side worked as Assassins. Is that true?

I am looking at making a documentary about the Assassins and the Valley....

Please get in touch at mailtoavina_weitowitz@hotmail.com">davina_weitowitz@hotmail.com

Cheers,

davs

I have also read that they were extremely patient when they planned to kill someone.  They could spend years getting their wictims trust and friendship.  That is why they only needed a knife to kill them I guess. 

I also read a story where this person (forgotten who) surrounded by his guards told his visitor - that had just threatend him in some way - that there was no way that he could kill him while he was surrounded by his most trusted guards, who ofcourse never left his side.  Upon which the vistor just told the guards to reveal their true identety... 

I guess the Assasins are truly what you could call the first organized terrorists...Except for one thing.  They only went for the source of the problem they wanted to remove.  They never killed hundreds of innocent people just to make a point.  They were much to clever and brave for that....

yes i did do that, mongolians had the best orginization, trust, strategy and self sufficiencey by far of any army that ever lived including modern ones today.

Also reference the name "The Old Man of The Mountain" regarding their leader.  This a name given to whomever ruled the citadel at Alamut in the Elburtz Mountains of what is now Iran.  A few books I recommend on the subject that can definitely fall into the topical category of either Islamic history AND Medieval history, seeing as how the crusades were one of the fundamental institutions that shaped the period in question, not to mention modern events.  All one has to do is recall President Bush's uttering the word "crusade" in one his speaches early in the War on Terrorism.  How many Muslims probably shuddered in cultural memory of the crusades and the historical conotations to the use of the word to describe what the U.S was apparently embarking on?  We are the recipiants of a long tradition, Muslim and Christian alike of extremisms.  The Crusaders and the Assassins were two examples of that extremism.  Please reference the below listed books for further information on the Crusades and the Assassins.

1. Riley-Smith, J.  The Oxford illustrated History of the Crusades.  Oxford University Press, 2001 ed.  (Also see this author's other publications on the subject).

2.  Lewis, B.  The Assassins .  Basic Books, 1967 (2003 ed.).

3. Maalouf, A.  The Crusades Through Arab Eyes.  Schocken Books, 1985.

They were definately not pot heads, you can barely get up off ur ass on the stuff.

And the mongols probably succeeded because of their very unusual and cruel tactics in siege warfare, ie marching prisoners in front of their advancing troops so that the defenders would not fire.  Most likely the bulk of the prisoners were women and children.

Interesting thought I just had.

Latins do not possess the H sound in their language and the word was taken to the west by latins.  Assassiyun (Assassian) could be a pluralisation (the ian suffix pluralises it) in Persian of "hassas" means sensitive, they could have been the sensitive avengers.

But then again they do not have the "sh" sound either and replace it with an "s" sound. 

The word could just be derived from Hassanian, i.e. followers of Hassan.