Old Man of the Mountain (Assassin)

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Saint Louis receiving the envoy of the Old Man of the Mountain in Ptolemais. Painting by Georges Rouget in 1819.

The Old Man of the Mountain (Arabic: شيخ الجبل, romanized: Shaykh al-Jabal, Latin: Vetulus de Montanis),[1] is the expression used by Marco Polo in a passage from Book of the Marvels of the World, to indicate Hassan-i Sabbah,[2] the grand master of the Order of Assassins, who took refuge in Alamut Castle. It later became a common name used by the Crusaders.[3]

Subsequently, this nickname was given to various Isma'ili successors of Hassan, in Syria, particularly,[4] for example Rashid al-Din Sinan, the da'i (missionary)[5] and a leader of the Syrian branch of the Nizari Isma'ili state.[6]

References[]

  1. ^ Mirza 1998.
  2. ^ Yule 1920.
  3. ^ Wasserman 2017.
  4. ^ Lewis, p. 196.
  5. ^ Oxford Reference 2003.
  6. ^ Reston Jr. 2001, p. 16.

Bibliography[]

  • Mirza, Naseeh Ahmed (20 July 1998). "Alamut. Bastion of Peace and Information". Alamut. Melbourne, Australia. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
  • Polo, Marco (1920) [c. 1300]. "Concerning the Old Man of the Mountain" . In Yule, Henry (ed.). The Travels of Marco Polo  – via Wikisource.
  • Wasserman, James (8 August 2017). "A Note to the Reader on the Historical Context". Templar Heresy: A Story of Gnostic Illumination. Destiny Books. ISBN 978-1-62055-658-0.
  • Lewis, Bernard. Islam.
  • "Rashid al-Din Sinan". Oxford Reference. 2003. Retrieved February 8, 2018.
  • Reston Jr., James (2001). Warriors of God: Richard the Lionheart and Saladin in the Third Crusade. New York: Doubleday. ISBN 9780385495615.
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