The first victim of the founder of the order was his school friend
Hassan ibn Sabbah, the founder of the Assassin Order, nicknamed the Old Man of the Mountain, was born into a family of moderate Shiites, but after studying in Cairo he switched to the more radical Nizari teachings. It is significant that he was a classmate of many influential and even great people of the time, among whom were Omar Khayyam and Nizam al-Mulk, a vizier in the Seljuk empire.
It was with Nizam al-Mulk that the history of the assassins began as an organization of assassins. Former schoolmates became political rivals, and at some point Hassan eliminated the enemy: an assassin was sent to him, disguised as a wanderer-dervish, and the vizier was killed right in the middle of his luxurious palace, surrounded by guards and many witnesses.
Fortress Alamut, the main stronghold of the assassins, was captured by them without a drop of blood
Ruins of the fortress of Alamut
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When Hasan ibn Sabbah was choosing a place for his base, he stopped at the Alamut fortress near the Caspian Sea. It really was practically impregnable for the troops, but it was not necessary to besiege it. Posing as a teacher and a pilgrim, the future prophet paved the way for his coming empire: most of the locals were converted into his ardent followers.
Once the commandant of the fortress found that not a single person obeyed his orders, and he had to flee, leaving his domain. So the assassins suddenly declared their independence; after the capture of Alamut, they built more than a hundred fortresses, and the territories they occupied were rightfully considered a separate state.
Assassins were terrorists, not stealthy assassins
The Assassins were not exactly an order of secret assassins. According to modern views, they can rather be called terrorists, since they preferred not so much covert operations as high-profile (and preferably bloody) political assassinations that were committed with a large crowd of people. The elimination of an important figure was not so much an end in itself as a method of political terror. Moreover, many of the murderers did not flee from the scene, but remained and furiously shouted political and religious appeals to the people until they were captured or killed by the guards. It is noteworthy that the assassins proclaimed the entire class of officials and bureaucrats their main enemies.
The phrase “Nothing is true. Everything is allowed "not invented by the assassins
It is believed that the phrase served as a motto for the Assassins during the Crusades. In fact, the quote belongs to Burroughs and is from his Red Night Cities. Moreover, Burroughs was not only fascinated by the assassins, but, as far as can be judged, transferred this interest to Kurt Cobain. They recorded a joint audio story "They Called Him a Priest" and planned to create something similar about the Assassins. Cobain's death thwarted these plans.
Assassins and hashish are not related in any way
One of the common opinions about the assassins is that, firstly, they used hashish in their rituals and training, and secondly, thanks to this hobby, they deserved their name. The order was indeed called "hashishins", but this is connected either with the name of their leader, Hasan, or comes from their derogatory nickname - "herb-eaters", that is, the beggars. As for the use of cannabis in the training of killers, this seems highly unlikely:
“If the assassins took hashish, their visions and hallucinations in themselves would make it unnecessary to create a man-made“paradise”with houris and rivers of wine. Many months of being in a stranger's guise demanded tremendous self-control and endurance from the assassin. They understood that an unexpected premature exposure and the commission of murder for them could end only in an inevitable and very painful death. Such long-term and highly professional actions could not be performed either under the influence of hashish, or under compulsion, or by order."
Assassins believed in a supernatural messiah who lived in their capital
One of the central ideas of the Nizari as a sect was the existence of a certain "hidden" imam, a descendant of Muhammad, who escaped from enemies and would reveal himself as the messiah. Sabbah managed to convince his followers that he personally freed the "hidden imam" from captivity in infancy and even raised a divine child himself, settling in the secret chambers of the fortress. The Nizari believed that both a prophet (that is, Sabbah) and a certain otherworldly messenger of Allah lived in Alamut. Subsequent "Elders of the Mountain" proclaimed themselves as this supernatural being.
Applicants were selected according to the same principle as monks in Zen Buddhism
The method of selecting applicants for the junior line of assassins (fidaids) is similar to the method of selecting monks for Zen Buddhist monasteries. Those who wanted to become an instrument of the order were greeted only by closed gates, he had to sit with them, waiting for several days until the head of the community himself condescended to meet. All this time, the newcomer was humiliated, threatened and even beaten by the elders. Those who passed this test were admitted to the next exams. The idea of such a check when joining the community was used in the "Fight Club".
At least one European actually visited the Alamut fortress
Nizari display contempt for death
This man was Henry, Count of Champagne. It is to him that we owe the stories that Hassan's people are ready to jump off a cliff or stab themselves with a knife at his command. The suicide of several community members was shown to the guest with truly theatrical pathos.
Assassins were actively engaged in extortion
Seljuk court life
The nobility of the Seljuk Turks and Arabs was so frightened by the terror of the assassins that even in peacetime she practically wore chain mail. The only more or less serious way to protect yourself was to secretly bribe the "Old Man of the Mountain." In fact, a racket-like system developed: the nobles paid huge sums of money to an illegal organization for "accident insurance." Of course, the only danger from which the insurance contract protected was the Nizari themselves.
Assassins were defeated by the Mongol crusaders
Now it seems surprising, but once the steppe people stood at a crossroads in their choice of religion and were more inclined towards Nestorian Christianity. Alexander Nevsky at one time even fraternized with his son Batu, who professed Christianity. At some point, the nomads nevertheless chose the path of Islamization, but it was during the war with the Assassins that they launched a real religious war against Muslims. This campaign was called the "Yellow Crusade" - its goal was to free the Holy Sepulcher. Now this is difficult to imagine, but then the Mongols were perceived as defenders of the Christian faith and the crusaders became their allies.
The Mongols approached the campaign against Alamut and the cities of Central Asia that followed it with the utmost seriousness. Mountain bridges and crossings were built, siege engines and even Chinese troops armed with gunpowder weapons were fitted. Thus, the fortresses of the assassins became one of the first structures for the capture of which gunpowder was used.
The last fortress of the Assassins resisted the siege for 20 years
Ruins of the Assassin Fortress
However, a significant part of the Assassins did not surrender even after the order of their leader and continued to resist the Mongol invasion. The most incredible case is the siege of the Girdshuk fortress, which lasted 20 years (obviously, the Mongols simply could not stop the secret routes of delivering food and equipment).
Two of the eight overlords of the assassins were killed by their own heirs
The last of the "Elders of the Mountain" was Rukn ad-Din Khurshakh, who not only killed his father to take his place, but also gave Alamut and most of the fortresses to the Mongols practically without a fight. Khurshakh himself, who surrendered to the mercy of the victors, was subsequently killed by them. The Mongols tried to pass it off as an accident, but unlike the Assassins, they had much less skill in this, and the murder turned out to be very sloppy.
“Khurshakh, a young man who inherited power from his father. He was a lover of wine and women, who encouraged intrigue in his court. He could have sat in his castle for a long time, but his nerves have failed. Learning that he was personally promised life, he appeared in 1256 at the headquarters of Hulagu. He sent him to Mongolia, but Mongke hated traitors and ordered to kill Khurshah on the way."
The dynasty of the rulers of the assassins did not interrupt and still exists today
Prince Karim Aga Khan IV at a meeting with Vladimir Putin
Prince Karim Aga Khan IV is a multimillionaire, spiritual leader of the Nizari and a Swiss citizen. He received an excellent education at Harvard, feels better in Europe than in Asia and personally met with the Queen of Great Britain and Vladimir Putin. Karim Aga Khan IV is a direct descendant of the last of the "Elders of the Mountain" and formally still heir to the title of Lord of the Assassins.
The assassins and the strangler thagi not only had a lot in common, but also knew about each other
When the assassins fled from the Mongol invasion, literally thousands of them fled to India, which means they had to face another similar order - the strangler thags. It is still unknown how their relationship developed and whether they contacted at all. Thagov, as well as assassins, were accused of using a certain drug called "sacrament sugar" (gur) in their ceremonies. It was believed that having tasted this "sugar" the stranglers could not resist the will of the elders and thoughtlessly went to kill those whom they managed to track down.
Thagi - another religious order of assassins
The secret society sacrament sugar may well have inspired the moon sugar and skooma from The Elder Scrolls, but this drug has another aspect that may shed light on the nature of the assassins and thags. There is an opinion that the intoxicating substance is not at all some real substance, but a metaphor for murder as such. Besides the surface idea of purely sadistic pleasure, there is a deeper concept.
In the rigid caste society of India and in Persia, captured by the Arabs and then by the Turks, secret societies of murderers have become almost the only way to metaphorically and metaphysically take this world and destiny by the throat. It is clear that a person who entered the order of assassins faced an even more rigid hierarchy, but paradoxically felt liberated. Yesterday's native of peasants or artisans suddenly found himself in a system that was engaged in the destruction of the elite of a society that he considered vicious and unjust. Moreover, the greater satisfaction was brought not even by the behavior of the predator, but by getting rid of the humiliating status of a natural prey. The latter was the very intoxicating potion that the "Old Man of the Mountain" presented to his followers.
Assassins are not only assassins, but also a club of bohemian decadents
In the 19th century, the so-called "Club of Assassins" existed in Paris. It was a literary association of daring but popular poets and prose writers, including Baudelaire, Father Dumas, Hugo and Balzac. In addition to experimenting with Dawamese, these pillars of literature became famous for the popularization of the image of the assassins and Hasan ibn Sabbah, the enigmatic mystic and ruler of Alamut. Many of the clichés that have remained in popular culture were created by them, and from them the tradition of artistic distortion of facts about the Nizari begins.
Vladimir Brovin