Order of Assassins

The Order of Assassins was a Nizari Ismaili Shia Islamic military and religious order founded by Hasan-i Sabbah in 1090, based in a network of mountain fortresses across Persia and Syria, with Alamut Castle serving as its Persian headquarters and Masyaf Castle as its stronghold in the Levant. Hasan-i Sabbah, born around 1050 in Qom, captured Alamut in 1090 and built the order into a tightly organized movement known for carrying out targeted political assassinations of rival rulers over nearly two centuries, killing hundreds of opponents including three caliphs, a ruler of Jerusalem, and other Muslim and Christian leaders across the Fatimid, Abbasid, Seljuk and Crusader worlds. The English word assassin derives from the Arabic hashshashin, a term historians regard as a derogatory label used by rival Muslim groups rather than evidence that the order used hashish to motivate its operatives. The order collapsed between 1253 and 1256 under the Mongol invasion, and its last strongholds fell to the Mamluks by the 1270s. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/