Assassin

Term applied to one who murders another by surprise or by some secret means or treachery. The word is derived from hashish; the opiate made from the juice of hemp leaves. It was originally the name of a sect of the Shiites, known otherwise as Ismailites, founded by Hasan-ibn-Sabbah in the 11th century. The sect flourished until the 13th century, when the Mongols under Hulagu destroyed its power. Hasan captured by a ruse the fortress of Alamut in Persia and settled there as chief of the society afterwards called the Assassins.

The doctrines of the Assassins were those of the Ismailites, with the additional custom of the secret removal of all their enemies. At the head was Hasan-al-ibn-Sabbah, now known as Sheikh al Jabel, who was assisted by three grand priors. Beneath these were the semi-initiated members, and last the actual agents of assassination, who were called fedais, meaning devoted ones. They worked in absolute ignorance of the objects and rites of the society, and from them was exacted the most implicit obedience. It is said that no precautionary measures ever seemed to avail against the machinations of the society, which transferred its centre of operations to Syria in the 12th century. A massacre of 12,000 of the Assassins in 1255 by order of the Tatar khan, and a subsequent ravaging of their country by Bibars, the Mameluke Sultan of Egypt, completely destroyed their power.

The application of the word assassination is now generally limited to the taking of life of a public personage for political motives.

© JM Dent/Historybookshop.com

Recommended reading

The Assassins
Lewis, Bernard — Paperback £7.95 —