The medieval history of many peoples is replete with various secret societies and powerful sects, about which mainly legends and traditions have survived to our time.

This happened, in particular, with the Islamic sect of assassins, whose history formed the basis of the famous computer game Assassin's Creed... In the game, the Assassins are opposed by the Order of the Knights Templar, but in real story the paths of development and death of these powerful medieval organizations practically did not intersect. So who exactly are the Assassins and Templars?

Assassins: from the kingdom of justice to shameful death

Name "Assassins" is a distorted Arabic word "Hasshishiyya" , which many associate with the hashish used by these mysterious killers. Actually in the medieval Islamic world "Hasshishiyya" was a contemptuous name for the poor and literally meant: "Those who eat grass".

The Assassin Society was formed between 1080 and 1090 by the Islamic preacher Hasan ibn Sabbah, who belonged to the Shiite branch of Islam, more precisely, to his Ismaili teachings. He was well educated and very clever man, who conceived to create a kingdom of universal justice based on the laws of the Koran.

Establishing a kingdom of justice

In 1090, Hasan ibn Sabbah and his supporters managed to occupy a powerful fortress located in the fertile Alamut valley and establish their own rules in it. All luxury was outlawed, all residents had to work for the common good.

According to legend, Ibn Sabbah executed one of his sons when he suspected him of wanting to receive more benefits than an ordinary inhabitant of the valley was supposed to. In his state, Hasan ibn Sabbah actually made the rich and the poor equal in rights.

Secret Assassins Sect

The worldview of the new ruler Alamut could not please the neighboring rulers, and they tried to destroy Hasan ibn Sabbah in every possible way. At first, he organized a huge army to defend his valley and castle, but then he came to the conclusion that fear would be the best defense.


He created a system for training secret killers who could hide under any guise, but achieved their goal. The Assassins believed that after death they would go straight to heaven, so they were not afraid of death. Hundreds of rulers and military leaders died at their hands during the life of Hasan ibn Sabbah.

The training system, at its final stage, included a session of opium dreams. The future assassin, drugged with drugs, was transferred to luxurious chambers, where he spent several hours surrounded by exquisite dishes and beautiful women. Waking up, he was sure that he had been to paradise and was no longer afraid to die, believing that after death he would return to this beautiful garden.

Templars with assassins

The Christian Order of the Knights Templar originated in Jerusalem around 1118. It was formed by the knight Hugh de Payne and six other poor nobles. By order of the then ruler of Jerusalem, a new order named by them "Order of the beggars", located in one of the parts of the city temple.

This is where their name comes from - templar, or templars, from the word "Temple" meaning a castle or a temple. The order quickly gained popularity, and its soldiers - the glory of skillful and selfless defenders of the Holy Sepulcher.

Towards the end of the eleventh century, the confrontation between the Christians who conquered Jerusalem and the Islamic rulers of the surrounding countries reached its climax. Defeated Christians, fewer in number than their opponents, were forced to win over, sometimes dubious, allies to their side.

Among them were the Assassins, who have been at enmity with the Islamic rulers since the foundation of the mountain fortress. Suicide bombers from among the assassins with pleasure and for a considerable price killed the opponents of the crusaders, thus fighting side by side with Christians.

End of the legend

The last pages of the assassins' history are marked by shame and betrayal. The state of the Alamut Valley, which existed for about 170 years, gradually lost the principles of unmercension, its rulers and nobles were mired in luxury, and among ordinary people there were fewer and fewer people who wanted to become a suicide bomber.


In the mid-50s of the thirteenth century, the army of one of the grandsons of Genghis Khan invaded the valley, laying siege to the fortress. The last ruler of the Assassins, the young Ruk-ad-din Khursha, at first tried to resist, but then surrendered the fortress, reprimanding himself and several of his entourage. The rest of the defenders of the fortress were killed, and the stronghold of the assassins itself was destroyed.

After a while, the Mongols also killed Ruk-ad-din, since they considered that the traitor was unworthy of life. The few followers of the doctrine who remained after the defeat were forced to hide, and since then the assassin sect has no longer been able to recover.

The power and death of the Templars

One of the main activities of the Templars, along with military service, was finance. The Templars succeeded, thanks to the iron discipline and the monastic charter of the order, to concentrate quite serious wealth in their hands. The templars did not hesitate to put their funds into circulation and lend, having received permission from the Pope for this.

Their debtors were representatives of all walks of life, from small landowners to the rulers of regions and states of Europe. The Templars did a lot to develop the European financial system, in particular, they invented checks. In the thirteenth century, they became the most powerful organization in Europe.


The end of the order of the Templars was put by the French king Philip, nicknamed the Handsome. In 1307, he ordered the arrest of all prominent members of the order. Under torture, confessions of heresy and debauchery were knocked out of them, after which many templars were executed, and their property went to the state treasury.

Today the word "assassins" in different countries ah call contract killings, distinguished by their special cunning and cruelty.

Medieval Islamic authors called the assassins that existed from the XI century, a militant order Nizari, Shia Muslims. Despite the fact that the assassins became famous as hired killers, it was not always so, their founder, Hasan ibn al-Sabbah, became famous for conquering fortresses without shedding blood, in particular, this happened with Alamut, who later became the capital of the order.

The meaning of the word "assassins" is interpreted in different ways. Perhaps it comes from the Arabic "hashishiyya" - drunk with hashish another interpretation suggests that it was used in the meaning of the lower classes, the rabble, unbelieving outcasts.

The most famous description of the inhabitants of Alamut, given in the essay of the traveler Marco Polo, however, it is heavily embellished. It was the information of Marco Polo that served as the basis for the myth that the representatives of the order were intoxicated all the time, using the blissful hashish for this.

At the same time, other sources do not say about the use of hashish by members of the order, it is only recognized that opiates were used during some rituals. It is also believed that the members of the sect were nicknamed "hashishin", or "herb-eaters" because of their asceticism.

Hasan Ibn Ass-Sabbah

Hasan Ibn Ass-Sabbah- Ismaili, leader and founder of the order of the Assassins, a mysterious personality. He received a good education and dreamed of becoming a preacher, but he founded a sect that is very harsh towards its members, ascetic, does not recognize class differences.

In the territories he seized, an Ismaili state was subsequently formed. He abolished taxes, but obliged residents to build fortifications and roads, and actively attracted scientists to work for the good of the order. Assassin legends say that some of their martial arts are based on methods of Chinese schools, which means that the leader of the order was no stranger to borrowing useful knowledge from other peoples.

His commitment to justice bordered on heartlessness Thus, some sources say that Hasan ibn al-Sabbah executed his own son for breaking the law. Thanks to an extensive network of spies, he was always aware of events in neighboring states. He was a strong ideologist and skillfully led people.

After the death of the leader, the successors continued the work of Hasan ibn al-Sabbah, but the former power of the order, exhausted by the ongoing struggle with the Europeans, the Fatimid and Seljuk states, was gradually fading away.

Assassins' activities from the 11th century to the present day

Assassins conquered a number of castles and cities in Iran and Syria, and the citadel of Alamut became the first fortress to be captured. Capture of Alamut in 1090 practically coincided with the time of the first crusade (1096), it was at this time that the first armed and diplomatic conflicts of the Nizari and the knights were recorded. In the same period, the word "assassin", borrowed from the Sunnis, appears in the languages ​​of Europe, but information about the order came to Europe in a significantly distorted form.

The Assassins gave a desperate rebuff to the crusaders who invaded Arab territories. Suicide warriors who, according to Europeans, were intoxicated with hashish, and therefore were fearless in the face of death, terrified Europeans. It is reliably known that the assassins used various disguises, but there is no information that they always wore hoods, as they play up in films and games.

Assassins used murder as a method political pressure Thus, the vizier of the Seljuk empire Nizam al-Mulk became a victim of the sectarians; he was stabbed to death by an assassin disguised as a dervish on his way to Baghdad in 1092.

Europeans also became victims of the order, for example, in 1192 the Italian Margrave Conrad of Montferrat was killed by two disguised assassins, and this murder is not accidental, because it was the Margrave who prophesied the throne of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

The assassin sect lost its position after invasion of Persia by the Mongols in the XIII century. The last ruler of the capital of the Assassins did not put up resistance to the Mongols, as a result he and his entourage were destroyed, and the fortress of Alamut fell. Then in In 1256, the sect officially ceased to exist.

Over time, the assassins became play assassins, it is this meaning of the word "assassin" that is most actively used in modern language... They are hired by religious, terrorist and political groups.

In the past, their weapons were daggers, today - grenades and sniper rifles. The most active modern assassins are in the Middle East.

The Middle East, Central Asia, like medieval Europe, experienced an acute political crisis in the 9th-11th centuries. In this region of the planet, the mass migration of peoples was much larger than on the European continent. Political Map reshaped at a kaleidoscopic speed. Following the Arabs who managed to conquer vast territories, Turkic tribes came to these lands. Some empires and states disappeared, and much more powerful state formations appeared in their place. The political struggle bore a clear religious connotation and sometimes took the most unexpected forms - conspiracies and coups d'état alternated with endless wars.

Political assassination is becoming the favorite instrument of Eastern politics. The word assassin is firmly included in the everyday life of the political elite, personifying a ruthless and tough assassin. Not a single ruler of the East, a politician could guarantee himself complete security. At any moment, one could become a victim of an insidious killer. It is for this historical period the heyday of the most mysterious and closed religious-state formation - the Order of the Assassins.

The order was a small state entity that became the most radical branch of Islam and was distinguished by extremely radical views. For the next century, the Assassins kept the entire Middle East at bay, personifying the most brutal methods of political pressure.

Assassin - who is this? A brief excursion into history

It has already been said above that the Middle East in the X-XI centuries was a boiling socio-political cauldron, in which acute political, socio-social and religious contradictions were combined.

Egypt became the epicenter of an acute socio-political crisis, where the political struggle reached its highest boiling point. The ruling Fatimid dynasty could not cope with other political opponents. The country was plunged into a civil armed confrontation. The aggressive neighbors did not sit idly by. The Ismailis, the Shiite branch of Islam, found themselves in such conditions between a rock and a hard place, risking becoming a victim of an acute social, social and religious conflict. One of the Ismaili-Nizari branches was headed by Hasan-ibn-Sabbah. It was under his leadership that a large group of Nizari were forced to leave Egypt, going to seek refuge. The end point of long wanderings was the central, inaccessible mountainous regions of Persia, which at that time was part of the Seljuk state. Here Hasan-ibn-Sabbah, together with his associates, decided to found a new Ismaili state of the Nizari.

The stronghold and center of the new power was the Alamut fortress, captured by the Ismailis in 1090. Following Alamut, other neighboring cities and fortresses of the Iranian Highlands quickly conquered new masters. The birth of a new state coincided with the beginning crusades, plunging the entire Middle East into a long bloody confrontation. Using his influence, Hasan-ibn-Sabbah was able to introduce a new form into the structure of government - a religious order, based on the religious cult, rituals and traditions of the Nazarites. The order was headed by Hasan-ibn-Sabbah, who received the title of sheikh, and the Alamut fortress became the symbol of the new order.

The rulers of neighboring principalities and the central government of the Seljuk state scornfully treated the newcomers and looked at them as rebels and rebels. Companions of Hasan-ibn-Sabbakh, the population of the new state and the Nazarites in general, the ruling Seljuk and Syrian elite casually called the rabble - the hasshashins. Subsequently with light hand Crusaders came into use the Sunni name assassin, which no longer meant a person's class affiliation, but his professional qualities, social and social status and religious and ideological worldview.

Sheikh Hasan I, thanks to his personal qualities, was well-versed in the political situation. As a result of his foreign policy, the Ismaili state and the Assassin order not only managed to withstand the confrontation with the central government. The internal political strife that gripped the Seljuk state after the death of Sultan Malik Shah contributed to the rise of the order and the political influence of the Assassins on the politics of the world order. The order became an unspoken political subject of foreign policy, and the assassins themselves began to be considered religious fanatics who, for the sake of ideological motives, naturally, for material and political gain, were capable of taking the most extreme measures.

The Nizari state existed for a century and a half, until 1256, having managed to unite the vast territories of modern Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Iran during this period. This was facilitated by a rather tough management system built on unquestioning obedience to Sharia law, a communal system of social and social relations. There was no division into classes in the state, and the entire population was united into communities. The supreme power belonged to the supreme spiritual and religious mentor - the leader.

The centralized state of the Assassins was defeated by the Mongols who came to Iran from the east. For the longest time under the rule of the Assassins were the Middle Eastern possessions, which were lost in 1272 as a result of the military campaign of the Egyptian Sultan Baybars I. However, the loss of statehood did not mean the end of the existence of the Order of the Assassins. From this time begins new stage the life of this organization, which completely and completely switched to subversive, sabotage and espionage activities.

The origins of the real strength and power of the assassins

At the peak of their power, the state and the order represented a real political force in the Muslim world. Assassin is not just a name for radical religious fanatics. Only one mention of them terrified the ruling and political elite. Assassins were not without reason considered masters of political terror, professional murderers and, in general, a criminal organization. The influence of the order was not limited to borders Muslim world... Europeans also faced the cunning and power of the order in full measure.

This policy was the result of a well-thought-out ideological and political move. Hasan I, being the supreme leader of the Nazarites, realized that without powerful army any defense strategy is doomed to failure. A brilliant way out of this situation was found. Unlike neighboring states and principalities, which invest huge funds and resources for the maintenance of the army, Hassan created an order - a secret and closed organization, a kind of special forces of that time.

The task of the new special service was to eliminate political opponents and opponents, whose decisions could negatively affect the existence of the Nazarite state. Political terror was placed at the forefront of the policy of the Order of the Assassins. The methods and methods used to achieve results were chosen as the most radical - political blackmail and physical elimination of the enemy. The main driving force of the order was the fanatical devotion of the members of the organization to their spiritual and religious mentor. This was facilitated by the technology of professional training, which was obligatory for every member of the order.

The main conditions for membership in the order were the following aspects:

• complete indifference to one's own life, disregard for death;
• fostering a sense of self-sacrifice and devotion to religious ideals;
• unquestioning submission to the will of the leader of the order;
• high moral and physical qualities.

In the order, as in the entire state, paradise retributions were promoted in exchange for unquestioning obedience to the will of the religious leader. In the usual view of that time, an assassin is a young man of strong physique, selflessly devoted to the ideas of Sharia and piously believing in the high divine position of his patron. They recruited adolescents 12-14 years old into the order, who passed the most severe competitive selection. From day one, recruits were instilled with a sense of being chosen to achieve lofty goals.

It is generally accepted that the ideological and religious aspects are the main aspects of the solid structure of the order. However, his real strength kept not only high moral qualities its members. Professional training, which the assassins practiced from morning to evening, during the breaks for prayer, gave excellent results. The soldiers of the medieval special forces were fluent in any weapon and hand-to-hand combat techniques. The assassin perfectly mastered riding techniques, could accurately shoot from a bow, was distinguished by endurance and good physical strength.

In addition, the training program included practical and theoretical knowledge in the field of chemistry and medicine. The art of assassins in the use of poisons has reached perfection. There is a theory that Catherine de Medici, being a skilled master of poisoning with poisons, received lessons in this craft from the assassins.

Finally

In a word, the training of spies and professional assassins from Sheikh Hasan I was put on stream. The results of such a thorough and comprehensive preparation were not long in coming. The bad reputation of the order's power quickly spread throughout the world. Thanks to his servants, Hasan I, nicknamed in the Islamic world and far beyond the Mountain Elder, managed not only to achieve his goals, but also to put political terror on the stream. The Nizari state managed to survive for a fairly long period, successfully playing on the political contradictions of its stronger neighbors.

As for the Order of the Assassins, this organization has become not only an instrument of foreign policy of the Nizari, but also a significant source of income. The rulers and politicians of different countries and states did not disdain to use the services of professional assassins and spies, solving their political issues in achieving certain goals.

100 great mysteries of history Nepomniachtchi Nikolai Nikolaevich

WHO ARE THE ASSASSINS?

WHO ARE THE ASSASSINS?

This sect became famous for insidious murders, but its founder was a man who took fortresses without shedding a drop of blood. He was a quiet, courteous young man, attentive to everything and eager for knowledge. He was sweet and welcoming, and he weaved a chain of evil.

The name of this young man was Hasan ibn Sabbah. It was he who founded a secret sect, whose name is now considered synonymous with insidious murder. We are talking about assassins - an organization that trained assassins. They dealt with anyone who was opposed to their faith or took up arms against them. They declared war on anyone who thought differently, intimidated him, threatened him, otherwise they killed him without a long gimmick.

Hasan was born around 1050 in the small Persian town of Qom. Soon after his birth, his parents moved to the town of Raiya, which lay near modern Tehran. Here young Hasan received his education and already "from a young age", he wrote in his autobiography, which has come down to us only in fragments, "was inflamed with a passion for all spheres of knowledge." Most of all he wanted to preach the word of Allah, in everything “keeping faithful to the precepts of the fathers. I have never in my life questioned the teachings of Islam; I was invariably convinced that there is an almighty and eternal God, the Prophet and the Imam, there are permissible and forbidden things, heaven and hell, commandments and prohibitions. "

Nothing could shake this faith until the day when a seventeen-year-old student met a professor named Amira Zarrab. He confused the young man's sensitive mind with the following, seemingly inconspicuous reservation, which he repeated over and over again: "In this regard, the Ismailis believe ..." At first, Hasan did not pay attention to these words: "I considered the teaching of the Ismailis philosophy." Moreover: "What they say is contrary to religion!" He made it clear to his teacher, but did not know how to argue with his arguments. In every way the young man resisted the seeds of a strange faith, sown by Zarrab. However, he “refuted my beliefs and undermined them. I didn’t openly admit it to him, but in my heart his words resonated strongly. ”

Finally, there was a coup. Hasan fell seriously ill. We do not know in detail what happened; it is only known that after his recovery, Hasan went to the Ismaili monastery in Raiya and said that he had decided to convert to their faith. So, Hassan took the first step along the path that led him and his disciples to crimes. The path to terror was open.

To understand what happened, let's fast forward a few centuries. Muhammad died in 632. After that, a dispute broke out about his successor. In the end, his disciples united around the "faithful of the faithful", one of the first Muslims - Abu Bakr. He was proclaimed the first caliph - “deputy” of the Prophet. It was then that Muhammad's associates began to write down verses of the Koran.

However, not everyone was happy with this choice. Secret enemies of Abu Bakr (632-634) and his successors Omar (634-644) and Osman (644-656) grouped around Ali, Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law. It seemed to them that he had more rights to bear the title of caliph. These people began to be called "Shiites" (from the Arabic word "shia" - a group). From the very beginning, they were in opposition to the majority of Muslims - they were called Sunnis. Ali's supporters had their own truth. The people who continued the work of Muhammad were more interested in the seizure of new lands and the accumulation of wealth than in strengthening the faith. Instead of a state, Muslims were concerned only with their own good. They replaced holiness and justice with money-grubbing.

In the end, the Shia dreams came true. In 656, the rebellious people killed the Caliph Osman of the Meccan Umayyad clan. Ali became the new ruler of the Muslims. However, he was killed five years later. Power passed to Mu'awiyah (661-680) from the same Umayyad clan.

The Umayyads, like the rulers of all times and peoples, strengthened their power. During their reign, the rich got richer and the poor got poorer. All dissatisfied with the authorities rallied around the Shiites. The caliphate began to be shaken by uprisings. Back in 680, after the death of Mu'awiyah, Hussein, the son of Ali, and Fatima, the daughter of the Prophet and the widow of Ali, rebelled.

The Shia was originally a purely political group. Now a split has occurred in the religious sphere as well. The main reason for the turmoil and unrest, the Shiites believed, was the illegal rule of the caliphs. Only the direct descendants of the Prophet could be the guardians of truth and law. Only from among them could the long-awaited Savior be born, who would build a state pleasing to God.

The Shiite leaders - the imams - were Alids, descendants of Ali in a straight line. This means that they all went back to the Prophet with their roots. They had no doubt that the long-awaited Savior would be the Shiite imam. We observed echoes of this yearning for a "righteous world" quite recently, when in 1979 in Shiite Iran the people greeted with jubilation the news that Ayatollah Khomeini had proclaimed the country an Islamic Republic. How many hopes ordinary Shiites pinned on this happy event!

But let's go back to the distant past. In 765, the Shiite movement faced a split. When the sixth imam, who succeeded Ali, died, not the eldest son Ismail, but the youngest son was chosen as his successor. Most Shiites accepted this choice calmly, but some rebelled. They believed that the tradition of direct inheritance was broken - and remained loyal to Ismail. They were called the Ismailis.

Their preaching was unexpectedly successful. They were attracted by a wide variety of people - and by different reasons... Jurists and theologians were convinced of the correctness of the claims of Ismail and his direct heirs, who disputed the title of imam. Ordinary people attracted by the mysterious, full of mystical sayings of the Ismailis. Scientists could not pass by the sophisticated philosophical interpretations of faith proposed by them. Most of all, the poor liked the active love for their neighbors, which was shown by the Ismailis.

They founded their own caliphate, named after Fatima. Over time, their power became so strong that in 969 the army of the Fatimid Caliphate - it was located in Tunisia - invaded Egypt and, having seized the country, founded the city of Cairo, its new capital. During its heyday, this caliphate covered North Africa, Egypt, Syria, Sicily, Yemen and the holy cities of the Muslims - Mecca and Medina.

However, when Hasan ibn Sabbah was born, the power of the Fatimid caliphs had already noticeably shaken - it, one might say, was in the past. However, the Ismailis believed that they alone were the true custodians of the Prophet's ideas.

So the international panorama was like this. An Ismaili caliph ruled in Cairo; in Baghdad, the Sunni Caliph. Both of them hated each other and fought a bitter struggle. In Persia - that is, in modern Iran - there were Shiites who did not want to know anything about the rulers of Cairo and Baghdad. In addition, the Seljuks came from the east, capturing a significant part of Western Asia. The Seljuks were Sunnis. Their appearance upset the delicate balance between the three major political forces of Islam. Now the Sunnis have taken over.

Hasan could not help but know that, becoming a supporter of the Ismailis, he chooses a long, merciless struggle. Enemies will threaten him from everywhere, from all sides. Hasan was 22 years old when the head of the Ismailis of Persia came to Raya. The young zealot of the faith liked him and was sent to Cairo, to the citadel of Ismaili power. Perhaps this new supporter will prove to be very useful to brothers in the faith.

However, a full six years passed until Hasan finally departed for Egypt. During these years he wasted no time; he became a renowned preacher in Ismaili circles. When he arrived in Cairo in 1078, he was greeted with respect. However, what he saw terrified him. The caliph, whom he revered, turned out to be a puppet. All questions - not only political, but also religious - were decided by the vizier.

Perhaps Hassan had a falling out with the almighty vizier. In any case, we know that three years later, Hassan was arrested and deported to Tunisia. However, the ship on which he was transported was wrecked. Hasan escaped and returned to his homeland. Misadventures upset him, but he firmly kept the oath given to the caliph.

Hasan plotted to make Persia a bulwark of the Ismaili faith. From here, her supporters will lead a battle with those who think differently - Shiites, Sunnis and Seljuks. It was only necessary to choose a springboard for future military successes - a place from which to launch an offensive in the war of faith. Hasan chose the Alamut fortress in the Elburs mountains on the southern coast of the Caspian Sea. True, the fortress was occupied by completely different people, and Hasan regarded this fact as a challenge. Here, for the first time, his typical strategy emerged.

Hasan entrusted nothing to chance. He sent missionaries to the fortress and surrounding villages. The local people are used to expecting only the worst from the authorities. Therefore, the preaching of freedom, brought by strange messengers, found a quick response. Even the commandant of the fortress greeted them cordially, but that was an appearance - a deception. Under some pretext, he sent all the people loyal to Hasan out of the fortress, and then closed the gates behind them.

The fanatical leader of the Ismailis did not think to give up. “After long negotiations, he again ordered them (envoys) to be admitted,” Hasan recalled his struggle with the commandant. "When he ordered them to leave again, they refused." Then, on September 4, 1090, Hasan himself secretly entered the fortress. A few days later the commandant realized that he could not cope with the "uninvited guests". He voluntarily left his post, and Hasan sweetened the parting with a promissory note in the amount - in terms of our usual exchange rate - more than $ 3,000. From that day on, Hassan did not take a step out of the fortress. He spent 34 years there - until his death. He didn't even leave his house. He was married and had children, but now he still led the life of a hermit. Even his worst enemies among Arab biographers, incessantly denigrating and denigrating him, invariably mentioned that he "lived like an ascetic and strictly observed the laws"; those who violated them were punished. He made no exceptions to this rule. So, he ordered to execute one of his sons, finding him drinking wine. Hasan sentenced another son to death, suspecting that he was involved in the murder of one preacher.

Hasan was strict and fair to the point of complete heartlessness. His supporters, seeing such steadfastness in their actions, were devoted to Hassan with all their hearts. Many dreamed of becoming his agents or preachers, and these people were his "eyes and ears", bringing everything that was happening outside the walls of the fortress. He listened to them attentively, was silent, and, having said goodbye to them, sat for a long time in his room, making terrible plans. They were dictated by a cold mind and enlivened by an ardent heart. He was, in the opinion of people who knew him, "shrewd, skillful, versed in geometry, arithmetic, astronomy, magic and other sciences."

Endowed with wisdom, he craved strength and power. He needed power to put the word of Allah into practice. Strength and power could bring an entire state to his feet. He started small - with the conquest of fortresses and villages. From these scraps, he cut himself a submissive country. He was in no hurry. First, he persuaded and admonished those whom he wanted to take by storm. However, if they did not open the gate for him, he resorted to weapons.

His power grew. About 60,000 people were already under his rule. But that was not enough; he kept sending his emissaries around the country. In one of the cities, in Sava, south of modern Tehran, murder was committed for the first time. Nobody planned it; rather, it was caused by despair. The Persian authorities did not like the Ismailis; they were watched vigilantly; for the slightest offense, they were severely punished. In Sava, Hassan's supporters tried to lure the muezzin over to their side. He refused and threatened to complain to the authorities. Then he was killed. In response, the leader of these swift Ismailis was executed; his body was dragged through the marketplace in Sava. So ordered Nizam al-Mulk himself, the vizier of the Seljuk sultan. This event stirred up Hasan's supporters and unleashed terror. The killings of the enemies were planned and well organized. The first victim was the cruel vizier.

"The murder of this shaitan will usher in bliss," Hasan announced to his faithful, climbing to the roof of the house. Turning to those who listened, he asked who was ready to free the world from “this shaitan”. Then “a man named Bu Tahir Arrani put his hand on his heart, expressing his readiness,” says one of the Ismaili chronicles. The murder happened on October 10, 1092. As soon as Nizam al-Mulk left the room where he was receiving guests, and climbed into the palanquin to proceed to the harem, Arrani suddenly burst in and, revealing a dagger, in a fury rushed at the dignitary. At first, taken aback, the guards rushed to him and killed him on the spot, but too late - the vizier was dead.

The entire Arab world was horrified. The Sunnis were especially indignant. In Alamut, however, joy seized all the townspeople. Hasan ordered to hang out a memorial plate and engrave the name of the murdered person on it; next to it is the name of the holy creator of revenge. Over the years of Hasan's life, 49 more names have appeared on this "board of honor": sultans, princes, kings, governors, priests, mayors, scientists, writers ... In Hasan's eyes, they all deserved death. They left the path traced by the Prophet and ceased to follow the Divine law. “And whoever does not judge by what Allah has revealed, then these are infidels,” says the Qur'an (5, 48). They are idol worshipers who despise truth; they are apostates and snares. And they must be killed, as the Koran commanded: "Beat the polytheists, where you find them, capture them, besiege them, ambush them in any hidden place!" (9, 5)

Hasan felt he was right. He became stronger in this thought, the closer the troops sent to exterminate him and his supporters approached. However, Hassan managed to assemble a militia, and it repelled all the attacks of the enemies.

For four years, Hasan ibn Sabbah ruled in Alamut, when the news came that the Fatimid Caliph had died in Cairo. The eldest son was preparing to inherit him, when suddenly the younger one seized power. So, direct inheritance is broken. In Hassan's view, it was an unforgivable sin. He breaks with Cairo; now he was left alone, surrounded by enemies. Hasan no longer sees any reason to reckon with anyone's authority. There is only one decree for him: "Allah - there is no deity besides Him - living, existing!" (3, 1). He is used to winning people.

He sends agents to his enemies. They intimidate the victim by threatening or torturing her. So, in the morning a person could wake up and notice a dagger stuck in the floor next to the bed. Attached to the dagger was a note stating that the next time its edge would cut into the doomed chest. After such an unequivocal threat, the alleged victim usually behaved "quieter than water, below grass." If she resisted, death awaited her.

The assassination attempts were prepared to the smallest detail. The killers did not like to rush, preparing everything gradually and gradually. They penetrated the retinue that surrounded the future victim, tried to win her trust and waited for months. The most amazing thing is that they did not care at all about how to survive after the assassination attempt. This also made them perfect killers.

There were rumors that the future "Knights of the Dagger" were trance-drugged and drugged. So, Marco Polo, who visited Persia in 1273, told later that a young man, chosen as a murderer, was intoxicated with opium and taken to a wonderful garden. “The best fruits grew there ... Water, honey and wine flowed in the springs. Beautiful maidens and noble youths sang, danced and played musical instruments. " Everything that future killers could wish came true in an instant. A few days later they were again given opium and carried away from the wonderful helipad. When they awoke, they were told that they had been to Paradise - and could immediately return there if they killed this or that enemy of the faith.

Nobody knows if this story is true. It is only true that the supporters of Hasan were also called "Haschischi" - "who eat hashish." Perhaps the drug hashish really played a certain role in the rituals of these people, but the name could have a more prosaic explanation: in Syria, all madmen and madmen were called “hashish”. This nickname passed into European languages, turning here into the notorious "assassins", which were awarded to ideal murderers. The story told by Marco Polo, albeit in part, but undoubtedly true. Even today, Muslim fundamentalists kill their victims in order to quickly find themselves in Paradise, promised to those who died a martyr's death.

The authorities reacted very harshly to the killings. Their spies and bloodhounds roamed the streets and guarded the city gates, looking out for suspicious passers-by; their agents broke into houses, ransacked rooms and interrogated people - all in vain. The killings continued.

At the beginning of 1124, Hasan ibn Sabbah fell seriously ill "and on the night of May 23, 1124," the Arab historian Juweini writes sarcastically, "he collapsed into the flame of the Lord and hid in His hell." In fact, the blessed word "usop" is more fitting for the death of Hasan: he died calmly and in the firm conviction that he was doing a just cause on a sinful Earth.

Hasan's successors continued his work. They managed to expand their influence in Syria and Palestine. In the meantime, dramatic changes have taken place there. The Middle East was invaded by crusaders from Europe; they captured Jerusalem and founded their kingdom. A century later, the Kurd Saladin overthrew the rule of the caliph in Cairo and, gathering all his strength, rushed to the crusaders. In this fight, the Assassins once again distinguished themselves.

Their Syrian leader, Sinan ibn Salman, or "Old Man of the Mountain," sent assassins to both camps that fought with each other. The victims of the assassins were both Arab princes and Konrad of Montferrat, king of Jerusalem. According to the historian B. Kugler, Konrad "provoked the revenge of a fanatical sect against himself by robbing one Assassin ship." Even Saladin was doomed to fall from the blade of the avengers: it was only by a happy coincidence that he survived both attempts. Sinan's people sowed such fear in the souls of their opponents that both Arabs and Europeans dutifully paid tribute to him.

However, some enemies grew bolder to the point that they began to laugh at Sinan's orders or interpret them in their own way. Some even suggested that Sinan calmly send the assassins, because that would not help him. Among the daredevils were knights - the Templars (templars) and the Johannites. For them, the daggers of the assassins were not so terrible also because the head of their order could immediately be replaced by any of their assistants. They were "not attacked by the murderers."

The intense struggle ended in the defeat of the assassins. Their powers gradually melted away. The killings stopped. When in the XIII century. the Mongols invaded Persia, the leaders of the Assassins submitted to them without a fight. In 1256, the last ruler of Alamut, Rukn al-Din, himself led the Mongol army to his fortress and obediently watched as the stronghold was compared to the ground. After that, the Mongols dealt with the ruler himself and his retinue. “He and his companions were trampled underfoot, and then their bodies were cut with a sword. Thus, no trace of him and his tribe remained, ”says the historian Juvaini.

His words are inaccurate. After the death of Rukna al-Din, his child remained. He became the heir - the imam. The modern Imam of the Ismailis, the Aga Khan, is a direct descendant of this baby. The assassins obedient to him no longer resemble the insidious fanatics and murderers who roamed the entire Muslim world a thousand years ago. Now these are peaceful people, and their dagger is no longer a judge.