List of
assassinations and assassination attempts attributed to the
Assassins
An assassin is a person who commits targeted murder.
Assassin may also refer to:
Origin of term
* Someone belonging to the medieval Persian Ismaili order of Assassins
Animals and insects
* Assassin bugs, a genus in the family ''Reduviida ...
(the
Nizaris of Alamut), active in
Western Asia
Western Asia, West Asia, or Southwest Asia, is the westernmost subregion of the larger geographical region of Asia, as defined by some academics, UN bodies and other institutions. It is almost entirely a part of the Middle East, and includes Ana ...
,
Central Asia
Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...
, and
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
, in the 11th through 13th centuries.
Background
The Assassins were a group of
Nizari
The Nizaris ( ar, النزاريون, al-Nizāriyyūn, fa, نزاریان, Nezāriyān) are the largest segment of the Ismaili Muslims, who are the second-largest branch of Shia Islam after the Twelvers. Nizari teachings emphasize independent ...
Ismaili Shia Muslims
Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, mos ...
that, by capturing or building impregnable forts, established
a "state" of their own inside the hostile territories of the
Seljuk Empire
The Great Seljuk Empire, or the Seljuk Empire was a high medieval, culturally Turko-Persian, Sunni Muslim empire, founded and ruled by the Qïnïq branch of Oghuz Turks. It spanned a total area of from Anatolia and the Levant in the west to ...
, a
Sunni Muslim government, first in Persia and later in Iraq and the Levant. Lacking a conventional army, in order to survive, they started using unconventional tactics such as
assassination of prominent enemy figures and
psychological warfare
Psychological warfare (PSYWAR), or the basic aspects of modern psychological operations (PsyOp), have been known by many other names or terms, including Military Information Support Operations (MISO), Psy Ops, political warfare, "Hearts and M ...
.
Assassination
The precise ideology that motivated the assassins are unclear.
Most of the assassinations by the Nizaris took place during the first decades of their struggle, which helped them to create a local political power. Their first and boldest assassination was that of
Nizam al-Mulk, the vizier and ''de facto'' ruler of the
Seljuk Empire
The Great Seljuk Empire, or the Seljuk Empire was a high medieval, culturally Turko-Persian, Sunni Muslim empire, founded and ruled by the Qïnïq branch of Oghuz Turks. It spanned a total area of from Anatolia and the Levant in the west to ...
.
Those assassinated were usually the enemies of the Nizari Ismaili sect, but also sometimes people of political importance who are killed in exchange for money paid by some local ruler. This tactic caused resentment against them, and there is a correlation between the assassinations and subsequent
massacres of the Nizaris. This tactic gradually declined and the later attributed assassinations are probably of local origination.
It should be taken into account that medieval Arabic sources generally tend to attribute most of the assassinations of this period to the Ismailis.
The assassins gained access to the victims through betrayal of confidence and carried out the attack in a ritual manner.
Some of the assassins were sleeper cells, notably by befriending or being employed by the victim, sometimes remaining unrecognized for years.
The names of the assassin and their victims were written in a
roll of honor kept in
Alamut Castle, recorded by later Muslim authors.
List
References
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Assassinations by the Assassins
Assassins
An assassin is a person who commits targeted murder.
Assassin may also refer to:
Origin of term
* Someone belonging to the medieval Persian Ismaili order of Assassins
Animals and insects
* Assassin bugs, a genus in the family ''Reduviida ...
Iran history-related lists
Syria history-related lists
11th century-related lists
12th century-related lists
13th century-related lists
Lists of events in Asia
Isma'ilism-related lists
11th-century deaths
12th-century deaths
13th-century deaths