Alamut Castle
It can be quite interesting to know about the story behind the word of Assassin and more exited to find it's root in Ancient Iran. The story behind this word revolves around one of the most amazing characters in Persian history called Hassan-i Sabbah and also a legendary castle in the beautiful Alamut region called The Castle of Assassins.
Who was Hassan-i-Sabbah?
"In the late 11th century, Assassin leader Hassan-i Sabbāh began a campaign to publicize the Brotherhood's activities, making it a visible political force in the region. The citadel of Masyaf allowed the Brotherhood to extend it's network of agents, informants and spies throughout the Levant. By the Third Crusade, Masyaf had solidified into the political, cultural and geographical center of the Assassins."
Based on what little is known, one can assume that Hassan reorganized the Brotherhood into the "Hashashin"/"Assassins", and this group subsequently became the most prominent branch. It's a curious tidbit that Hassan studied in Egypt, the place where the Hidden Ones were founded. Later on, he was charged with instigating unrest in Egypt and was imprisoned. His imprisonment coincided with the collapse of the jail’s tower and this was taken as an omen of Hassan’s presence in Egypt, so he was released and deported back to Iran.
Castle of Assassin:
In 1080's, when the Sunni Seljuq rulers were in power in Iran, there was increasing dissatisfaction among the Shia people who lived mostly scattered in Northern and Eastern parts of Iran. The main reason behind the Shia’s dissatisfaction was the very heavy taxes that were levied upon them by the ruling Seljuqs. It was in this situation that Hassan-i Sabbah who himself was an Ismaili Shia, got the idea to unify his coreligionists and start a resistance movement and the first thing he needed for this plan was an unconquerable fortified stronghold; The Castle of Assassins. Then at 1090 AD, Alamut Castle was seized as a mountain fortress under the leadership of Hasan-i Sabbah. Later on, to secure their position in Alamut, Hassan and his successors trained mysterious professional killers known as Hashshashins to murder the key figures in the ruling power.
For sure, the founder was a very smart man to choose the location of the castle here! The very unique characteristics of the castles of the assassins were that they had only one reaching way, not more! And this made them quite impervious.
You should not expect anything like the intact castles in Europe, instead of that just enjoy watching the best scenery from the height of the Alamut castle.