Article

2007-07-15 -Short Attention Span Theater-

Secrets of Assassins' fort unearthed in Syria

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Posted by lotp 2007-07-15 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11128 views ] Top

#1 Didn't seem to bother the Mongols much.

They haven't heard of them much before attacking, so there was no mystique in their hearts or minds about them. Just some bunch of drugged loonies...
Or they thought that they got their mojo werking much better. Which they got.

Posted by twobyfour 2007-07-15 01:00|| 2007-07-15 01:00|| Front Page Top

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Two or three years ago it was just another snake cult.

Posted by Anonymoose 2007-07-15 09:29|| 2007-07-15 09:29|| Front Page Top

#3 The word English word 'assassin' is taken from original 'hashishin', feared doped up warriors of the mystical "Old Man" holed up in the mountains.

Posted by Danielle 2007-07-15 12:59|| 2007-07-15 12:59|| Front Page Top

#4 Aga Khan Trust for Culture?

Oh, brother.

Posted by Pancho Glusort1329 2007-07-15 13:45|| 2007-07-15 13:45|| Front Page Top

#5 My inner Indiana Jones is dying to have a look at this place.

Posted by Grumenk Philalzabod0723 2007-07-15 14:31|| 2007-07-15 14:31|| Front Page Top

#6 Deprived of their military power, the Assassins survive in Persia as the Nizari Ismaili, a minor heretical sect of Shi'ite Islam. Their leaders still claim descent, through Nizar, from Ali and Fatima. In 1818 one of them is granted the title Aga Khan by the shah of Persia.

In 1840, after an abortive uprising against the next shah, this first Aga Khan flees to India. There he and his descendants remain leaders of an Ismaili community numbered, in Syria, Iran, Pakistan, India and elsewhere, in several millions. The present Aga Khan, born in 1946, is only the fourth in the line.

Posted by John Frum 2007-07-15 16:25|| 2007-07-15 16:25|| Front Page Top

#7 The initial friendly relations between Assassins and Mongols quickly waned, and Hulagu Khan was sent from Karakoram to destroy the Assassins. He slowly and deliberately went after each mountain stronghold. Khurshah submitted and pleaded that Alamut be spared, but it was not. Neither was he finally being murdered on the way back from a useless trip to try to see the Great Khan. Through trickery and brutality, the Mongols slew all the Assassins they could find, including babies.

Then Hulagu advanced on Baghdad, besieged it, and when the Caliph surrendered, butchered his retinue. The last Arab Caliph was trampled to death by horses after he revealed the hiding place of his treasury. Then Baghdad was raped, pillaged, and sacked 800,000 were slaughtered indiscrimately. The ancient irrigation system was wrecked and Mesopotamia never recovered.

Message from the Mongol Hulagu Khan to the caliph, Al-Musta'sim:

"When I lead my army against Baghdad in anger, whether you hide in heaven or in earth
I will bring you down from the spinning spheres;
I will toss you in the air like a lion.
I will leave no one alive in your realm;
I will burn your city, your land, your self.
If you wish to spare yourself and your venerable family, give heed to my advice with the ear of intelligence. If you do not, you will see what God has willed."

Reportedly the Officer in charge of the Mongolian contingent in Iraq told his American counterpart:
"Don't worry, we have some experience operating in Baghdad"

Posted by John Frum 2007-07-15 16:32|| 2007-07-15 16:32|| Front Page Top

#8 I've met one Mongolian officer - very impressive young man.

Posted by lotp 2007-07-15 16:35|| 2007-07-15 16:35|| Front Page Top

#9 John Frum, I'm always entertained and enlightened by your knowledge :-) - keep it up, and thanks

Posted by Frank G">Frank G 2007-07-15 17:02|| 2007-07-15 17:02|| Front Page Top

#10 Saladin v Assaassins? They were Muslims of the Ismaili sect. Israel-Lebanon-Syria could be a major tourist destination if the Alawites and Hizbollah were taken out of the picture.

Posted by McZoid 2007-07-15 17:21|| 2007-07-15 17:21|| Front Page Top

#11 The Assassins had tried to copy the castles of the Crusaders and Saladin, "but not very well", he said, suggesting the fort's weaknesses might be evidence of the group's relative poverty

Lack of innovation. Poor engineering. Lousy financial management. It seems as if some traditions die rather hard in the Muslim world.

Posted by Zenster">Zenster 2007-07-15 20:13|| 2007-07-15 20:13|| Front Page Top

#12 Hulagu was an outsider, and the Assassin's dagger-wielders couldn't really pass for Mongol.

Posted by Alistaire Sleating4235 2007-07-15 23:33|| 2007-07-15 23:33|| Front Page Top

23:55 Sigmund Freud
23:52 Angaiger Tojo1904
23:45 Sigmund Freud
23:33 Alistaire Sleating4235
23:31 Sock Puppet of Doom
23:27 Zenster
23:19 JosephMendiola
23:16 Zenster
23:13 Zenster
23:13 Abu do you love
23:12 Abu do you love
23:11 KBK
23:09 Zenster
23:07 KBK
23:05 anymouse
22:58 OldSpook
22:54 John Frum
22:52 Abu do you love
22:50 Zenster
22:46 OldSpook
22:45 Abu do you love
22:44 JosephMendiola
22:42 Ho Chi Spomosh2247
22:37 DMFD