The Masyaf Castle of the Assassins

The imposing walls of the Masyaf castle in Syria speak to the formidable command of its Medieval occupants. This was one of the fortresses run by the Nizari Ismaili sect of Muslims — better known as the Assassins.

Run by a charismatic leader sometimes called “The Old Man of the Mountain” (also Hasan-e Sabbah), the Assassins believed that they were holy warriors, and they would obey their leader even on suicide missions: these specialist killers were known as the _fedayeen_ or “those who sacrifice themselves.” The third slide in a Persian miniature shows an assassination being carried out. The Nizari Ismaili were known for their stealth, surprise, and willingness to die for their mission. They often attacked in public spaces, and they frequently used daggers — both qualities that made them especially feared.

But much of the reputation of the Assassins (which is indeed where we get the modern English synonym for hired murderer) was made by Western Medieval people working off of legends they heard through far-removed rumors. The Nizari Ismaili actually kept to specific targets, and bystanders were never treated as collateral damage. Although they sometimes went after Crusaders, more of their victims were their Muslim enemies such as the Seljuk Turks.

Finally, the word “Assassin” does come from the word “Hashishim” — the Arabic term for “hashish,” and the Nizari were given this name by their opponents. The Western 13th-century _Travels of Marco Polo_ asserted that the Old Man of the Mountain gave a drugged concoction to his followers that induced a frenzied desire to kill, and you can see a European 15th century painting of this in the second slide. However, the Hashishim originally first referred to their allegedly lax morality, with their Muslim opponents using the term as a slur. It was really the Europeans who promoted the Assasins as intoxicated killers.