Alamut Castle is a ruined fortress on a rocky outcrop in the Alborz mountains of northern Iran, in the Qazvin region. It is best known as the stronghold of the Nizari Ismailis, often called the Assassins, whose leader Hasan-i Sabbah took the castle in the late eleventh century and made it the centre of a network of mountain fortresses. Legends about the order, some spread by Marco Polo and later writers, said that its followers were drugged with hashish and sent to kill the order's enemies, but modern historians regard these accounts as exaggerated. The castle was destroyed by the Mongols under Hulagu Khan, and its library was lost.
Before and after
- 850 CEDeath of Muḥammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi
- from c. 850s to 950sThe Classic Maya collapse
- c. 850sGunpowder is invented in China
- 859 CEFounding of University of al-Qarawiyyin
- 860 CEConstruction of Alamut Castle
- from 861 CE to 1003Saffarid dynasty
- from 862 CE to 1598Rurikids
- from 865 CE to 866 CECaliphal Civil War
- 866 CEBirth of Abu Bakr al-Razi
More in Civilizations & archaeology
- from 618 CE to 907 CETang dynasty
- 622 CEConstruction of Prophet's Mosque
- 637 CEConstruction of Potala Palace
- from 750 CE to 1258Abbasid Caliphate
- from 800 CE to 1258Islamic Golden Age
- 1070Construction of Windsor Castle
The era
This moment belongs to the Medieval world (500 CE to 1500 CE), kingdoms, faiths and trade routes. You can also browse everything in the 9th century.