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Hassan-i Sabbah

Type Figure Region Persia Time c. 1050–1124 Also known as Hassan ibn Sabbah、Old Man of the Mountain

Hassan-i Sabbah (c. 1050–1124) was the Nizari Ismaili leader who seized the Alamut fortress in northern Iran in 1090, establishing an independent rel…

Timeline

  1. c. 1050–1080Rayy · Tehran ProvinceBorn near Qom or Rayy, he received an education in Shi'a Ismaili doctrine in his youth and traveled to the Fatimid court in Egypt to study. In the 1070s he preached across Persia, gradually accumulating followers and becoming an important leader of the Nizari branch.
  2. 1090–1110Alamut · Qazvin ProvinceIn 1090 he took the Alamut fortress by stratagem, establishing an independent religious-military base. Thereafter he successively controlled multiple mountain fortresses in northern Iran, forming the "Assassin" network and breaking with the Seljuk sultan and Fatimid central authority.
  3. 1110–1124Alamut · Qazvin ProvinceBetween 1111 and 1120 Hassan consolidated his rule at Alamut, dispatching "Fida'i" to carry out targeted assassinations, including several senior Seljuk officials. In 1126 he repelled a siege by the Abbasid caliph al-Mustarshid. He died at Alamut in June 1124 and was buried near the fortress; his successors led the Nizari sect for nearly two more centuries.

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