List_of_Ismaili_castles

List of Assassin strongholds

List of Assassin strongholds

Add article description

List of the strongholds or dar al-hijra of the Order of Assassins in Persia (Iran) and Syria.

Location of several of the Ismaili castles in the regions of Alamut and Rudbar.

Most of the Persian Ismaili castles were in the Alborz mountains, in the regions of Daylaman (particularly, in Alamut and Rudbar; north of modern-day Qazvin) and Quhistan (south of Khurasan), as well as in Qumis. Most of the Syrian Ismaili castles were in Jabal Bahra' (Syrian Coastal Mountain Range).

According to Juzjani, before the Mongol invasion the Assassins possessed 70 forts in Quhistan and 35 in Alamut.[1] Overall, they probably had 250 castles.[2]

The Ismaili fortresses in Rudbar of Alamut had been built on rocky heights and were equipped to withstand long sieges; they had storehouses with high capacities and elaborate water supply infrastructure such as cisterns, qanats, and canals.[3]

Persia

More information Name, Image ...

Syria

The strongholds in Jabal Bahra' were known as the "Castles of the da'wa" (قلاع الدعوة qilāʿ al-daʿwah).[8]

More information Name, Arabic name / Alternative spellings ...

See also

References

  1. [1]
    Virani, Shafique N. (2003). "The Eagle Returns: Evidence of Continued Isma?ili Activity at Alamut and in the South Caspian Region Following the Mongol Conquests". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 123 (2): 351–370. doi:10.2307/3217688. ISSN 0003-0279. JSTOR 3217688.
  2. [2]
    Willey, Peter. Eagle's Nest: Ismaili Castles in Iran and Syria. Bloomsbury Academic. p. 58. ISBN 978-1-85043-464-1.
  3. [3]
    B. Hourcade, “ALAMŪT,” Encyclopædia Iranica, I/8, pp. 797-801; an updated version is available online at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/alamut-valley-alborz-northeast-of-qazvin- (accessed on 17 May 2014).
  4. [4]
    Daftary 2007, pp. 320–321
  5. [5]
    Daftary 2007, pp. 321–324
  6. [6]
    "خولنجان(۱) یا خان لنجان". Retrieved 30 March 2023.
  7. [7]
    "DEZKŪH – Encyclopaedia Iranica". www.iranicaonline.org. Retrieved 5 October 2018.
  8. [8]
    Daftary 2007, pp. 349–350, 352
  9. [9]
    Daftary 2007, p. 334
  10. [10]
    Gibb, N. A. R., Editor (1932),The Damascus Chronicle of the Crusades. Extracted and translated from the Chronicle of ibn al-Qalānisi, Luzac & Company, London, pp.174-177, 179-180, 187-191

Further reading

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ismaili castles.
Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article List_of_Ismaili_castles, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.