Old Man of the Mountain (Assassin)
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 Muhammad III of Alamut,[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
- ^ Mirza 1998.
- ^ Yule 1920.
- ^ Wasserman 2017.
- ^ Lewis, p. 196.
- ^ Oxford Reference 2003.
- ^ Reston 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]. . In Yule, Henry (ed.). – 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, James Jr. (2001). Warriors of God: Richard the Lionheart and Saladin in the Third Crusade. New York: Doubleday. ISBN 9780385495615.